


The World is Not Enough

by kaeda



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Business, Doppelganger, Dubious Science, Falling In Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Parallel Universes, Plot, Plot Twists, Rivalry, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2019-11-28 07:20:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 92,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18205277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeda/pseuds/kaeda
Summary: If someone had warned Harrison Wells that wunderkind CEO Cisco Ramon was going to drag him into a whirlwind of intrigue involving metahumans and speedsters, maybe he would've thought twice before watching so many of Ramon's marketing videos just to admire his damn hair.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a beast but it's all currently written! It clocks in at 80k+ words at the moment so prepare yourselves. I will be posting it in installments as I do final edits and clean-ups of the chapters, my usual style. 
> 
> No warnings at this time other than this fic is absolutely self-indulgent. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

“Dad! Are you in the lab again?”

Harrison put down the welding torch, wincing as Jesse’s voice rang out from the top of the stairs. He pulled the welding mask from his face and stepped away from the next gen watch he was working on, wiping sweat from his brow. He heard the sound of footsteps descending the stairs into the basement, and Jesse rounded the corner a moment later, dressed in pajamas with bunny slippers on her bare feet. 

“Dad!” she said. “You’ve been down here for hours. You should get some sleep.” 

Harrison frowned at her. “This is the only time I get to work on my own projects,” he said. “I’m almost done with my prototype for this next gen watch; I’ll go to bed then.” 

Jesse stepped forward and gently removed the welding torch, stashing it back where it belonged. “The watch will still be around after your earnings call tomorrow,” she said softly. “It’s past midnight, Dad. You need to get some sleep.”

Harrison gritted his teeth. “Henry can do the earnings call,” he said.

Jesse sighed. “Dad,” she said. “You regularly complain about how Henry tries to run all the administrative functions of S.T.A.R. Labs behind your back. You’d really be happy to entrust him with the earnings call? You know Lex Luthor is going to be annoying as usual.”

Harrison sighed and walked over to pull her against him in a side hug. “Always too quick to argue against,” he said, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Fine, I’ll go to sleep. Anything to prevent Luthor from gaining an edge.”

He shut off his equipment under Jesse’s watchful eye and turned out the lights, following her upstairs, his heart heavy. Although Jesse meant well, she didn’t understand what was dogging him, the heavy weight that lay upon his conscience. Each new metahuman attack that occurred in Central City, each whisper of Zoom, reminded Harrison that _he_ was the one responsible for all of this.

Zoom was the monster to Harrison’s Dr. Frankenstein, and he was determined to own that responsibility and find a way to keep his city safe.

The next morning, Harrison awoke feeling like he’d barely slept. The earnings call did not go well.

“As you can see, our quarterly earnings were roughly on track with what was projected—“ Harrison droned into the phone, trying not to sound as bored as he actually was and failing miserably.

“You haven’t introduced any new technology in over a year and S.T.A.R. Labs’ patent registry rate is 50% behind target,” a harsh voice cut him off. Harrison rolled his eyes in annoyance; Luthor was his most annoying board member. “You reported over a year ago that you were on the edge of a huge breakthrough, cutting edge research that would change the world and enhance S.T.A.R. Labs’s reputation as an industry leader. Where is that breakthrough? Where are those millions of dollars you promised, Wells?" 

Harrison winced; he’d made some grandiose promises while testing the particle accelerator. In all fairness, he’d assumed it would work instead of turning his city into a hellhole filled with superhumans.

“We’ve had a few setbacks, but I assure you, we—“

“This isn’t acceptable,” Luthor snapped. “You’ve grown complacent. For years, S.T.A.R. Labs has been unparalleled in artificial intelligence and biotechnology, but that’s changing. I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention – rumor has it you spend more time in your workshop playing with toys than actually running your company, these days – but there’s a competitor nipping at our heels. They’re a new company, small, but providing innovative app-based solutions. Their artificial intelligence work is light-years ahead of anything that’s come out of S.T.A.R. Labs in the last year. Additionally, rumor has it they’ll soon be launching a series of devices to monitor for the presence of metahumans, a problem I understand your city has been besieged with.”

Harrison briefly imagined invading Luthor’s cushy office in Metropolis and lighting him on fire, but the daydream only got him so far. Another corporation was creating metahuman detection technology, similar to what Harrison was working on?

It was true – he _hadn’t_ been paying attention to the market lately. This was something he’d have to look into, but he was hardly going to admit his ignorance on a call with all of his shareholders and investors listening in. “There’s plenty of market share to go around, Lex,” he said confidently. “Everyone likes a flashy new company with a silver bullet for life’s problems, but S.T.A.R. Labs is a name consumers trust.”

“You’d better have a strategy to deal with Ramon Industries,” Luthor said threateningly.

Ramon Industries. Harrison jotted the name down on the notepad on his desk, studying it with his brow furrowed. Ramon - Latin American or Spanish?

“Thanks for your concern as always, Lex,” Harrison said into the phone with gritted teeth. “Now, if you’ll open the budget file that Henry sent you, you’ll see that while I understand your worries about our financial fluidity, there’s really nothing to concern yourself with. Henry would be happy to explain more about that.”

“Oh!” said Henry Hewitt over the line. “Of course. As you can see, our projections for last quarter…” 

Harrison put his phone on mute and typed ‘Ramon Industries’ into his browser, watching the results come in.

As Luthor had implied, Ramon Industries was a very, very new company, owned by some tech wunderkind by the name of Cisco Ramon. He read a few articles about how Ramon Industries was going to disrupt the industry – apparently Ramon was an “outside-the-box thinker” with “larger than life ideas” -  before he wandered over to Ramon Industries’ own website. 

The branding was aggressive, focusing on solving generational problems and appealing to young people. When Harrison went to the page detailing their app-based solutions to reducing pollution, a video loaded on the screen and began to auto-play. A handsome young man appeared dressed in a very nice suit, his long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and his big brown eyes staring right into the camera.

“The Earth is the future,” the man said, “and learning how to create a sustainable Earth is our present. Why are most of the biggest industry leaders focused on wringing every inch of energy from our planet rather than finding a way to protect it? At Ramon Industries, we’re focused on solving today’s problems to create a better tomorrow.” The young man smiled, his grin almost infectious. “With Pollution Watch, you can track your local air quality and report polluters directly to local and state governments, along with the EPA.” The video briefly showed a young woman stumbling across a factory belching smoke while hiking in the woods; she pulled out her phone and clicked ‘report!’ very triumphantly before it returned back to the young man again. He had to be some sort of actor or spokesperson – he had that sort of face.

Harrison continued to comb through the website, investigating a few of Ramon Industries’ other initiatives. The other videos he found all featured the same handsome twenty-something man, his hair shiny and his eyes bright. There was something awkward and genuine about him beyond the pretty hair and the flashing eyes, a charisma that seemed to leap off the pixels and go straight to Harrison’s gut.

Interestingly, when he finally found Ramon Industries’ apps dealing with metahumans, they were nothing like Luthor had alluded to.

The same earnest young man showed up in that video as well. “Metahumans are the next breakthrough in human evolution, and fearing their abilities only creates a world where people with powers have nowhere to turn. At Ramon Industries, we believe that metahumans aren’t a problem to be solved; they’re a valuable resource for our communities and our country. Our metahuman apps are designed to connect metahumans with one another for training and support, as well as providing capabilities to report issues like overpolicing and unlawful detention. I believe that we can only create peaceful communities by uplifting and supporting new metahumans as they learn about and develop their powers.”

“Naïve,” Harrison snorted.

The video was longer than the others and continued to another shot showing the young man sitting on a balcony overlooking Central City, his hair drifting softly in the wind. “My name is Cisco Ramon. When I founded Ramon Industries, I dreamed of changing the world through creating innovative inventions. The last year in Central City, watching the metahumans gain power, has changed my focus. Metahumans are an unsupported, overlooked population, only in the news when they commit horrific crimes or work with Zoom. With Ramon Industries, I plan to change that.”

“Cisco Ramon,” he murmured, pausing the video and studying his face. _This_ was Ramon Industries’ wunderkind CEO? He was younger than Harrison had expected.

Further research showed that the Ramon Industries social media accounts were all filled with Cisco Ramon. Personal interviews, Q&As, a video of him wearing a nerdy science t-shirt and lighting a balloon filled with helium on fire, another video of him wearing a _different_ nerdy science t-shirt and making a car explode. All of the videos and posts with him had an absurd amount of hits, and it was clear from the comments that he had quite a following of people who loved the idea of a handsome, charismatic tech bro.

It was Harrison’s worst nightmare. His company had gained a new competitor, and it was run by a social media darling barely out of college. Meanwhile, Harrison could only maintain his “media face” for twenty minutes maximum before he started yelling at reporters. What had he done to deserve such a fate?

He couldn’t stop watching video after video. Ramon’s sweet face was totally at odds with the shark-like canniness he’d demonstrated while breaking into the industry, and Harrison found himself fascinated, wondering what kind of man had that kind of tenacity. The ideas catalogued on his company’s website – and Harrison was well aware these were only the public-facing ones – were practical, cutting edge, and unique.

For the first time since the particle accelerator had exploded a year before, Harrison found himself _interested_ in business again.

He finally found himself on Ramon’s Twitter, scrolling through retweets about popular nerd culture and politicians. He stopped suddenly at one tweet, dread pooling in his stomach.

 _Cisco Ramon @SoloRamon  
__The thing being missed in all the discussion about metahumans is what created them. They began to appear a year ago – there’s a reason for that. What created the metas? #MetasAreHumanToo_  

Media darling or not, engineering marvel or not, _adorable_ or not – Cisco Ramon was going to be a problem.

Scrolling through his feed, there was more commentary about metahumans that matched Ramon Industries’ videos on their website; it certainly seemed to be Ramon’s cause of choice.

_Cisco Ramon @SoloRamon  
_ _Everyone stereotypes metahumans as evil or bad, but the Flash is also a meta. Central City should acknowledge that metas can be heroes too._

_Cisco Ramon @SoloRamon  
_ _Metahumans are being locked up in Central City without due process. With the help of CCPD, 52 metas are currently held in Iron Heights in special cells without any trial dates. CCPD and the District Attorney’s office refuse to comment. #MetasAreHumanToo_

Harrison frowned. He’d worked closely with Detective West at CCPD to ensure that the metahuman wing of Iron Heights was outfitted with the latest in technology to dampen their abilities, but what other options were there when the metas they’d caught had been hellbent on creating havoc in Central City, many of them allied with Zoom himself?

Harrison didn’t use Twitter – it was an inane platform – but he knew Jesse did. He resisted the urge to call her and ask her to respond to Ramon’s ridiculous tweets about metahumans, but they bothered him deeply.

Googling Ramon’s name with “metahumans” brought up a variety of results, although interestingly, none older than a year. Ramon had founded a metahuman advocacy group and was outspoken about metahuman rights. Harrison found an interview with him on local news which he casted up on the TV in his office.

“Mr. Ramon, you’ve been a vocal advocate for the rights of metahumans,” the newscaster began. “What has made you feel so passionate about this issue?”

Ramon looked directly into the camera with his doe eyes. His hair was down, falling in fluffy curls framing his face. “I lost my parents and brother a few years ago,” he said sadly, “but I like to think that if any of them had been turned into a metahuman, they would have had somewhere to turn. There’s no reason to have to fall into a life of crime just because you realize you have powers. Our advocacy group is trying to create a world with other options.”

Harrison close the tab in his browser, frustrated and ashamed of himself. Just another bright-eyed, bushy tailed optimist with engineering skills. The world would chew him up and spit him back out, and S.T.A.R. Labs would gobble up all of his lucrative contracts once Ramon Industries went face first into the dust.

* * *

Jesse wasn’t as sure as Harrison that Ramon Industries was doomed by the naiveté of its founder. 

“I eavesdropped on your call today,” she said cheerfully as Harrison prepared dinner for them. Surprised, Harrison accidentally put too much pepper in with the onions he had simmering in the pan. He frowned and looked at her.

“The earnings call?” he asked. “That’s just boring business, Quick.”

“I’m going to run S.T.A.R. Labs someday, right?” Jesse asked, her eyes bright. “I have to learn how to do this someday. Lex Luthor was right.”

“I never thought I would hear those words in my own house,” Harrison muttered.

“Did you look up Ramon Industries?” Jesse continued like she hadn’t heard him. “They’re cornering the market in a lot of areas that we’ve had a monopoly in, Dad. Ramon’s talking about clean energy for the future. And he has a TEDTalk where he discusses the importance of particle accelerators, which I know has always been an interest of yours.”

The kid had a TEDTalk? Good god. “Ramon is young and passionate,” Harrison said calmly. “The media loves a handsome young genius. They’ll lose interest when they realize he’s all smoke and mirrors.”

“The media loves you too, Dad,” Jesse shot back, “but you’ve barely left your lab in eight months! I wouldn’t mind if it was to take a break, go on vacation, or something like that, but you’re neglecting S.T.A.R. Labs just to be a workaholic on other projects. It’s not healthy.”

Harrison turned the stove off and added the cooked onions to the rest of the items he’d prepared for fajitas. “Dinner’s ready,” he said instead of answering.

“I’m just saying, nobody understands what you’re doing, Dad,” Jesse said.

Harrison regarded her for a moment, realizing that he couldn’t keep putting Jesse off without starting a fight.

“Come to the basement with me,” he said. “After dinner. I’ll show you what I’ve been working on.” 

The two of them made quick work of the fajitas, and Jesse did the dishes as she always did. After every pan was shined and put away, Harrison led her down into the basement and over to his workspace. He took out the safe where he kept his latest plans and unlocked it using the key that hung around his neck. 

“Sneaky,” Jesse commented.

“These patents are pending,” Harrison told her. He withdrew the latest schematics for a series of devices and finally his prototype metahuman detection watch. “You know I’ve been working on this next gen watch.” 

“I didn’t know what it was,” Jesse said, taking the watch from him and turning it over in her hand. “What does it do?”

“It detects the presence of metahumans,” Harrison told her, “including speedsters. It can detect the Flash, and if we’re lucky, Zoom.”

“How does it work?” she asked, her eyes alight.

“Metahumans were created by exposure to dark matter,” Harrison explained. “So their cells retain that dark matter in small quantities. The watch can detect that dark matter. When it’s significantly close to a person with dark matter in their cells, it rings out an alarm. That way, people can keep themselves and their family members safe." 

“Dad,” Jesse said, “This is actually—“

A loud sound, almost like an explosion, echoed faintly from upstairs. Whatever it had been, it was loud enough to hear in the basement.

Jesse and Harrison froze.

“What was that?” Jesse asked, her voice faint. 

Harrison quickly took the watch back, putting it on his wrist before locking the rest of the schematics back in the safe and shoving it under his workbench. “I don’t know,” he said truthfully. He led her to the other side of their large basement, which was carpeted and held a media room with an enormous TV perfect for viewing movies. With a gesture from his hand, the TV immediately tuned to a local news station.

“—reports are coming in of an explosion at Central City Electric’s western fusion substation,” the newscaster on the TV was saying. “According to CCE, up to five thousand homes and businesses could be affected by power outages until the damage can be stabilized. Eyewitness reports suggest that two known metahumans were seen near the reactor moments before the blast.” Two faces came up on the screen, one of a white man and the other of a Latino-looking man with short dark hair. The names under the men’s pictures read “Ronnie Raymond aka Deathstorm” and “Dante Ramon aka Rupture”. 

“Those two work under Reverb,” Harrison said, mentally tracing his knowledge of meta allegiances. “If rumors are accurate, Reverb recently formed an alliance with Zoom. I’m surprised the media isn’t already calling this a Zoom attack.”

“I don’t understand why you’re so obsessed with the metahuman underground crime world,” Jesse said. “It’s weird.”

“Always know your enemies, Jesse Quick,” Harrison said absentmindedly, still listening to the news report.

“Both men are considered extremely dangerous,” the newscaster continued. “If you see either one of them, call 6-1-1 immediately to get in touch with CCPD.”

“Why would they create an explosion at the reactor substation?” Harrison mused. Their own electricity was unaffected, but their home had a backup generator; it most likely was running on that. “If they really wanted to create havoc, they’d target the reactor itself; the western substation is on the opposite side of the river. What did they want?”

“They’re probably cutting the power so the rest of their team can do something else,” Jesse said. “It’s heist movie 101.”

Harrison’s phone rang as if on cue, Henry Hewitt’s face on the lock screen.

“Honey, I’ve got to take this,” Harrison said. He stepped back into his workshop and answered quickly.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Dr. Wells, the silent alarm at S.T.A.R. Labs has been tripped,” Henry said, speaking quickly enough that it was clear he was nervous. “The explosion at the power station took out our electricity, and the backup systems didn’t come online as they should have.” 

“Are you at S.T.A.R. Labs right now?” Harrison asked

“I was working late, and—our power’s out, Dr. Wells. Someone’s targeting us.”

Harrison’s mind spun furiously, trying to figure out what Reverb and his ridiculous crew could be after. “What have we been working on that has to do with vibrational energy?” Harrison demanded, wracking his brain.

“The physics teams have been looking into how CFL quark matter can be used to create vibrational resonance to investigate parallel dimensions,” Henry said, “but that hasn’t produced anything substantial.”

Reverb was rumored to be working with Zoom. “Dr. Fortuna,” he said. “She’s been working on that serum to try to create more speedsters to combat Zoom. What’s the status of that?”

Henry was silent for a moment. “It’s highly unstable,” he said at last. “The latest tests found that it caused cellular degeneration within three to five treatments.”

“In mice,” Harrison pointed out. “It very well could be less damaging for larger mammals.” He swore. “Get that serum immediately,” he ordered.

"On my way," Henry confirmed.

It was probably already too late – Reverb could teleport, any meta-chaser knew that. Harrison had set up dampeners all throughout S.T.A.R. Labs, but without power, they were practically useless. “Take the serum down to my office. It probably still has power and the dampeners there should work. I’m on my way over.”

He hung up, grabbed the pulse gun that he kept in the corner of his makeshift workshop, and returned to the TV area where Jesse was still glued to the news.

“Honey, I have to go into the office,” he said, leaning over and kissing her on the forehead. “There’s been a problem.”

“That’s why they took out the power,” Jesse said, quick as always. “They were targeting you.”

“These metas have been a pain in my side since they appeared,” Harrison said, knowing it was his own damn fault but still irritated. “If Reverb thinks he can steal from _me_ , he’s got another thing coming.”

“Dad, you don’t have any powers,” Jesse said. “Be careful." 

Harrison gave her a grim look and hefted his pulse gun. “I’ll be fine,” he promised.

He gunned his state-of-the-art electric roadster 20 miles per hour above the speed limit, making it to S.T.A.R. Labs in record time. The city all around him was dark, including the labs, and Harrison parked in his reserved spot right next to his private elevator and swiped inside the stairwell nearby. Everything was quiet - too quiet. 

Dr. Fortuna’s lab was on the third floor. Harrison ran up to that level and made his way towards the biology labs through the elevator lobby.

A squeak was the first thing that alerted him that something was wrong.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” a soft voice was saying, “but you are going to have to let me take that, _pobrecito_.”

Harrison rounded the corner and found Reverb, all black leather and eyeliner, long hair braided behind his head. It wasn’t his first run-in with Reverb, but each time before, Reverb had been wearing goggles; this time, his face was bare. There was something familiar about the shape of Reverb’s jawline, but the spike of adrenaline that went through him when Reverb turned to stare at him made it hard to think straight. The watch on Harrison’s wrist buzzed out of control, alerting him to a metahuman. 

“Ah, Dr. Wells,” Reverb purred, shoving Henry Hewitt in Harrison’s direction; Hewitt tripped in his haste to duck behind Harrison.

Harrison hefted his pulse gun, aiming it at Reverb’s smug face. “Reverb,” he acknowledged.

Reverb took in the pulse gun and looked him up and down almost flirtatiously. “I’m afraid I’m going to need to take some of your technology off of your hands.”

“Zoom has you doing his dirty work now?” Harrison asked brazenly, like Reverb couldn’t fry his entire nervous system. 

“It suits my needs,” Reverb said simply. He smirked like a cat. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand what it means to have to prove your loyalty to a man like Zoom.” He held up the serum, in a beaker labeled ‘Velocity 6’ that he’d clearly taken off Henry Hewitt’s hands. It glinted red in the emergency lights.

“We’ve patented that,” Harrison said. “I hope you know that if you walk out of here with it, you’ll be slapped with a lawsuit for stealing proprietary technology.”

Reverb grinned at him. “Dr. Wells, tangling with you is always a pleasure,” he said. “I want you to know, I’m not an enemy that you want to continue to antagonize. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m working with Zoom now.” He laughed, raising the hairs on the back of Harrison’s neck. “You don’t want to make Zoom your personal enemy, Wells.”

“I’m not afraid of Zoom,” Harrison spat, aiming his pulse gun.

“You probably should be,” Reverb replied almost conversationally.

“That serum belongs to S.T.A.R. Labs,” Harrison growled before firing. 

Reverb smirked and dodged with a clean somersault, opening a breach and appearing out of thin air behind Harrison. Harrison whirled to face him, but Reverb was faster, taking the pulse gun and throwing it across the hallway. Harrison listened to it clatter across the tiled floor, far out of reach.

Reverb leaned in so that they were breathing the same air. “I’m going to forget you did that,” he purred, “but that’s your last ‘get out of jail free’ card, Wells.” He licked his lips. Harrison felt himself beginning to sweat, wondering if tonight was the night his stupid bravado was finally going to get him killed.

Reverb opened another breach behind himself, glowing blue in the dim room. “I’ll be seeing you,” he said, giving an awkward little salute. “ _Adios_.”

He stepped into the breach and vanished, Velocity 6 and all.

Harrison let out a breath as he realized they were safe. “Damn,” he cursed.

He collected Henry Hewitt, took him down to his office to contact his lawyers about the theft, and then worked for the rest of the night with his technicians to bring S.T.A.R. Labs’ backup power system online. The whole time, Zoom took up real estate in the back of his mind, pinging his awareness like the refrain to an annoying song.

He was responsible. He’d created this monster. Zoom was only getting stronger, especially now that he had access to the Velocity 6.

It was up to Harrison to figure out how an ordinary human could stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're always welcome to join me on [tumblr](https://saucy-kate.tumblr.com/)! 
> 
> My attention to detail is fried from being a week out from a huge event for which I'm the primary project manager, so if you notice any small errors that slipped through, please don't hesitate to let me know. 
> 
> Thanks for reading - next chapter should be up in a few days!


	2. Chapter 2

“Are you an idiot?” Harrison demanded into his office phone. “Because I thought I’d hired you to be intelligent, but the only thing I get back from you is total nonsense. You’d better have a working prototype for me by the end of the week or we’re going to lose this contract, and you’ll be out of a job.” He hung up decisively, frowning at the phone. “Incompetents.” 

A new email appeared in his inbox with a ‘ding’. Lex Luthor had emailed him about a government contract that S.T.A.R. Labs had been trying to land for months. _“It’s come to my attention that Ramon Industries has put forth a rival bid,_ ” Luthor wrote, his annoyance practically dripping from the words. “ _You need to deal with this Ramon problem.”_

‘Deal with the Ramon problem?’ What did Luthor want him to do, hire a hit man?

“ _Cisco Ramon is barely out of college,”_ Harrison typed back disdainfully. “ _Don’t tell me you can’t handle an optimistic dreamer like that yourself._ ” He resisted the urge to watch more of Ramon’s YouTube videos; nothing would be solved by ogling a cute twenty-something with nice hair who was causing him a lot of professional trouble. “ _Do you have a copy of his proposal?”_

His email pinged again a few moments later – Luthor had emailed over a PDF of a top-secret proposal from Ramon Industries that was decidedly above Harrison’s clearance level. Sometimes, he felt like working with Luthor was a bit shady.

That didn’t stop him from reading through the proposal, keeping track of the tech promised - drones for surveillance of environmental sites and wildlife refuges that could also track water and air quality. The Department of the Interior had been looking for a way to decrease its hefty personnel costs and protect natural resources for years – S.T.A.R. Labs had suggested a task force of their best biologists to be on call to monitor the spaces – but the design of Ramon’s drones suggested a sophisticated level of engineering unlike anything Harrison had seen before.

Harrison pulled up Ramon’s Twitter feed, knowing he shouldn’t be virtually stalking a new young, _handsome_ rival like this but somehow unable to help himself. 

Ramon was on his usual soapbox about metahuman rights. 

 _Cisco Ramon @SoloRamon  
_ _After last night’s attack on Central City Electric, public fear of metahumans is at an all-time high. What is being done to protect innocent metahumans who haven't committed crimes? @CCPD @MayorSnart_

Harrison wanted to see Ramon stay up all night and face down Reverb before coming in to work on three hours of sleep, running on pure coffee and adrenaline. Would he still feel like metahumans were all innocent sunbeams then?

His desk phone rang once more, and after he gruffly answered, it was revealed to be his assistant. “Dr. Wells,” he said. “Detective West is on the line for you.”

“Put her through,” Harrison said, gritting his teeth. This couldn’t be good. It seemed to be a day for annoying problems; he’d just gotten out of a three-hour meeting with his attorneys, trying to determine what legal options they had to recover the loss of their serum.

“Wells,” Iris West greeted him. “I’m sure you heard about last night’s debacle at the western substation.”

“I’m sure you heard about Reverb storming S.T.A.R. Labs and stealing my property,” Harrison snapped back. “The metahuman problem is getting worse.”

“It is,” West agreed. “There’s a lot of public pressure to get Reverb and his band of misfits behind bars.”

“Catching Reverb won’t help now,” Harrison told her. “The real problem is Zoom.”

Silence met his statement. “You know there’s not much we can do about Zoom,” West finally replied. “Although we are trying.”

Harrison sighed; when Zoom had made himself known six months before, he’d murdered an entire SWAT team, earning both his nickname and the eternal terror of all of Central City. “Well, neither CCPD or the Flash have done anything to stop Zoom’s reign of terror in this city. Something has to be done.”

“You know as well as I do that our department was ill equipped to handle metahumans and we’re catching up as best we can,” West said sharply. “And the Flash is a hero.” 

“Jay Garrick is useless, and you know it,” Harrison told her.

“Ironic, because I’m actually calling you about a meeting with Garrick.” West’s voice on the phone was smug. “We have a new player in town who has some ideas about managing our metahuman problem. How does three o’clock sound?" 

“I’m a busy man, West,” Harrison said, although he was already pulling up his calendar to check his availability. All he had at three was a weekly recurring call with his heads of various departments; he was very happy to cancel it. 

“We’re willing to come to you,” West said. “You’ve contributed so much to the metahuman problem that it seems foolish to exclude you now.”

Harrison added the meeting to his calendar. “I can make that work,” he said. “I’ll see you then.”

“Looking forward to it,” West said flatly in a way that made it very clear she was not, at all.

Harrison kept himself busy until their meeting by tinkering with his metahuman detection watch for an hour. He spent his lunch walking through the labs yelling at technicians who had made stupid mistakes, pretending he didn’t see his head of HR following far enough behind that she thought he couldn’t see and smoothing feathers once he’d left. He had a loud phone call one of the military generals about the parameters of a contract that ended with him being hung up on. Jesse texted to remind him to eat, and he sullenly bit into a turkey wrap from the cafeteria to placate her.

By the time three o’clock rolled around, he was back in his office, idly scrolling through Ramon’s Twitter feed again. What was it about the man that fascinated him so much?

There was a knock on his door promptly at three, and his assistant poked his head in. “Detective West and two others for you,” he said.

“Show them in,” Harrison said, moving from his desk to the couch and chairs that he kept in the far corner of his office. West entered a moment later, hair tied back and uniform all buttoned up like always, followed by Harrison’s favorite Jay Garrick, wearing a plaid shirt and looking like he’d fallen straight out of an all-American lumberjack catalogue. Harrison hated him.

Garrick was so tall that he dwarfed the man behind him, but once Garrick had stiffly shaken Harrison’s hand and stepped back, Harrison came face to face with a short man with very familiar curls framing a very familiar face, wearing a well-tailored suit with a flashy-printed purple dress shirt underneath. Harrison resisted the urge to glance at his computer, knowing he’d minimized Ramon’s Twitter feed before they’d arrived but still seized with paranoia. 

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said instead.

Ramon was staring at him with wide eyes, like he found something about Harrison unsettling. He held out a hand for a shake. “Cisco Ramon,” he said. Harrison met his stare, shaking without looking away from those brown eyes. Ramon had a firm, businesslike handshake, at odds with the warmth radiating from his calloused palm. 

“Please, have a seat,” Harrison said, embarrassed to hear his voice was hoarser than usual. Apparently Ramon had an equal effect on him in person.

They all seated themselves, Ramon positioning himself on the couch diagonally to Harrison’s left, close enough that their knees were a mere several inches apart. Harrison looked him over out of the corner of his eye and his mouth went dry.

This was _very_ inconvenient. Ramon was significantly younger than him and a rival, for god’s sake. Worse yet, he was patently annoying about metahuman rights; he probably was there to throw a wrench into whatever plan West had to deal with Zoom. And Harrison couldn’t even think straight because he found Ramon so – attractive? Compelling?

“Zoom is a problem,” West began without preamble, and Harrison reluctantly dragged himself back to the present and stopped tracing Ramon’s cheekbones with his eyes.

“Zoom’s been a problem for months,” he countered. “If Reverb steals one more piece of tech from S.T.A.R. Labs, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

“Maybe you should guard your labs better if you don’t want them robbed,” Garrick said snidely.

“Maybe you should _do your job_ ,” Harrison shot back. “We wouldn’t be having this metahuman problem if you weren’t the most useless superhero that Central City has seen.” Times like this, he was exceedingly glad that Garrick didn’t know that he was responsible for the metahumans.

“I don’t think acting like a raging douchecanoe is going to help solve your metahuman problem,” said Ramon, and Harrison turned to stare at him. Ramon licked his lips. He spoke completely unlike any corporate hack that Harrison had dealt with before. “Jay’s doing the best that he can in a city with no resources for dealing with metahumans other than the Flash.”

“That is why Mr. Ramon has joined us,” West added. “He wants to put together a task force to find non-violent ways to deal with the metahuman menace.” 

“They’re not a _menace_ ,” Ramon snapped. “They’re people in a bad place who gained powers and used them. There are plenty of good metahumans.”

West made a face but didn’t reply; clearly she’d heard this spiel before.

“Why should we listen to you? Because you’re good at throwing money at a problem you barely understand?” Harrison asked snidely. “I’ve seen your grandstanding on the internet, I know what you stand for, but every metahuman who attacks this city belongs in jail, and being a bleeding heart about it isn’t going to keep our children safe.” He thought of Jesse, going to Central City College every day, out in the open, easy prey for any attack.

“A problem I barely understand?” Ramon was on his feet, his eyes flashing fetchingly. “Maybe you shouldn’t talk about things _you_ don’t understand, Dr. Wells.”

Harrison resisted the urge to stand as well, to meet him glare for glare. He didn’t know whether he wanted to punch him or kiss him, and the lack of distinction between those two feelings startled him.

“Ramon, sit down,” Garrick said. “Wells is a prick. He’s purposefully baiting you.”

Ramon muttered something in what sounded like Spanish before sitting back down and smoothing out his suit. 

“Mr. Ramon hasn’t offered us money,” West continued. “Well, much money,” she corrected. “He’s offered us something much more valuable.”

Harrison wondered what it could be. New tech?  “If you’re looking for improved metahuman detection, my team is already—“

Ramon waved him silent. Harrison glowered at him.

“You want to stop Zoom? You want to catch Reverb and his minions? You want to get your stolen ‘property’ back?” Ramon grinned at him, a smug smile that went straight to Harrison’s gut. “You’ll need something more than money. You’ll need someone with my abilities.”

 _Abilities_.

“You’re a metahuman,” Harrison breathed. Of course he was. It all made too much sense.

“Ding ding ding, give the man a prize,” Ramon said nonsensically. “I see visions, and I’m going to help you catch Reverb and stop Zoom.”

“See visions,” Harrison repeated like it was the most ridiculous thing ever. He turned to Detective West. “Does that mean we could eventually find out Zoom’s identity?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves—“ Garrick began.

Harrison went back to making too-intense eye contact with Ramon. “Can your powers do that?” he asked. “Find out who Zoom is, what he wants, how to stop him?”

“It’s not an exact science, you know,” Ramon said. “I’m still figuring it out. But I think so.”

“And what do you get in exchange for helping us?” Harrison demanded. “You hate the way CCPD goes after metahumans so I highly doubt you’re here out of the goodness of your heart.”

“That’s between myself and the district attorney,” Ramon replied, matching Harrison’s intensity with his own electric stare. Harrison was shaken down to his toes; Ramon’s presence made him feel like a lightning rod. It had been _years_ since anyone had affected him to such an extent, and it was infuriating. Why this, why now, why _him_?

“What do you need from me?” Harrison finally asked, looking back at Detective West. She pressed her mouth into a thin line, clearly not happy with their allegiance with Ramon either.

“Mr. Ramon has requested access to your labs that experienced the break-in,” she replied.

“Since Mr. Ramon’s company is a direct competitor with mine, he should know that our labs contain proprietary technology,” Harrison began.

Ramon rolled his eyes. “I’m not trying to steal your tech,” he said, waving his hand. “You can clear anything unrelated out of the room if it makes you feel any better. I just need to touch something that Reverb has touched, see if it will trigger my vibes.”

“Your _vibes_ ,” Harrison repeated distastefully.

“If Ramon can figure out where Zoom will strike next, I can be there to stop him,” Garrick said. Harrison was half surprised that he didn’t flex his arm along with that statement.

“Hopefully you’ll do a better job than the last five times you were ‘there to stop him’,” Harrison said.

“Zoom is extremely fast—“ Jay began.

West waved them all silent. “Excellent. Keep Garrick and I appraised on what you find.” She rose to her feet, and Garrick did as well. “We’ll leave you two to work out the details. Have a good evening, Wells.” With that, she strode out, Garrick on her heels.

They left him alone with Ramon, who was still sprawled out on his office couch looking particularly edible.

“I don’t like this,” Harrison said. 

“I can tell.” Ramon didn’t seem inclined to make things any easier for him; he met Harrison’s gaze again, squaring his jaw. “Look, I know you don’t like me or what I stand for, but I’ve admired you for a long time and it’d be nice if we could work together without murdering each other.”

Harrison felt the back of his neck flush. “You’ve admired me,” he said flatly.  
  
“You’re Dr. Harrison Wells!” Ramon told him. “Of course I’ve admired you. My company is modeled after S.T.A.R. Labs. When I was a kid, I wanted _be_ you. Ramon Industries wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for you.”

Harrison didn’t particularly want to think about the fact that Ramon had idolized him; it made him even more uncomfortably aware of the tension between them, which was already filling the room to dangerous levels. He wasn’t sure if Ramon felt it too or if he was just overreacting to being attracted to another person in a way he hadn’t felt since Tess. Even if Ramon did feel the tension, it was unlikely he felt the same way; what would _he_ see in an old grouchy workaholic like Harrison?

“Fine,” Harrison said, not liking the way he gave in so easily to those big eyes. “I’ll clear out the area that Reverb hit last night and then you can walk through. When are you available?”

“How long will they take to clear out?” Ramon asked, stretching on the couch. “I can do it now.”

Harrison’s eyes narrowed. “Ramon, if you’re trying to steal my intellectual property—“

“Look, _Harry,_ ” Ramon said, standing up to glare at him fiercely. “I’m operating above board on all of this. I’m helping CCPD because I genuinely believe that Zoom is a threat to the safety of the citizens of this city, human _and_ metahuman. With a dangerous man like that, it’s especially important that we move quickly.” Although Ramon was shorter, Harrison was struck by the sense of presence he carried with him as he stepped closer, right into Harrison’s space. “I have no interest in taking over S.T.A.R. Labs or stealing your ideas. My tech comes straight from my own head and I don’t need _you_ to inspire me.”

“You can call me Dr. Wells,” Harrison said, seizing on the most egregious part of Ramon’s speech.

“You’re not Dr. Wells,” Ramon said nonsensically.

“I’m pretty sure I know who I am.”

“You’re Harry.” Ramon crossed his arms and stared up at Harrison, an unmoving object in the face of unyielding force. Harrison abruptly realized who was going to fold first in this standoff - it was not going to be Ramon.

He moved to his desk without responding and called Henry Hewitt. “Clear out the biology labs of any proprietary technology similar to when we have a tour group come through,” he said. “Give the biology team the rest of the day off." 

“Dr. Wells, sir—“ Henry began.

“Is there a problem?” Harrison asked. “I need this done within the hour or heads will roll.”

“No, sir,” said Henry quickly. “Right away.”

Ramon looked appalled. “You must have great employee morale,” he said.

“I suppose your corporation all sits around and sings kumbaya together,” Harry said snidely. Ramon seemed like the hippie type of tech bro CEO.

Ramon sighed and rubbed his temples like he had a headache. “I value my employees as my mentor showed me to,” he said. “I treat them with respect and build them up to someday become leaders themselves.” It sounded like he was parroting someone else.

“Let’s agree to disagree on management styles then,” Harrison told Ramon dryly. “My people are brilliant and compensated very well. That means I shouldn’t have to coddle them.”

“It’s not coddling if—“

“We have a very nice food court on the lower level if you’d like to wait there until the labs are cleared,” Harrison interrupted him. “I can come get you when we’re ready.”

Ramon grinned cheekily at him. “Actually, I’m fine waiting right here, thanks, _Harry._ ”

“This is my office,” said Harrison.

“Yeah, and I’m helping you reclaim your lost property with my dope metahuman powers,” Ramon replied. “You could at least show me some gratitude.” The smile, the flashing eyes, the slight rosiness in Ramon’s cheeks – he was _enjoying_ baiting Harrison.

“Fine,” Harrison said, sitting down at his desk. “Enjoy being bored while I respond to emails.”

He immediately closed the tab with Ramon’s twitter open before going into the messenger app connected to his email and messaging Jesse. ‘ _Jesse Quick, if I end up in jail for murdering the most annoying person alive, make sure you contact my lawyer and delete these messages.’_

She messaged back almost immediately. ‘ _Sounds like a promising day. Who’s annoying you this time?’_

Ramon snorted from behind his shoulder; Harrison hadn’t even noticed him walk over. “Yeah, you’re hard at work,” he said.

Harrison minimized the chat with a frown. “You’re not convincing me that you’re not trying to commit corporate espionage,” he said.

Ramon didn’t even look repentant. “I’m bored,” he said.

“I gave you the option to go to the food court.”

“I’d rather hear about S.T.A.R. Labs from you,” Ramon said. His eyelashes were ridiculous. Was Harrison actually losing his mind? “Not because I’m trying to spy on you or because I want to take over your company. I actually think it would be really cool if we could form a partnership at some point, maybe put together some sort of joint venture?”

Harrison watched him coolly, trying not to give away how much Ramon unnerved him. “A joint venture,” he repeated flatly.

“We may approach the metahuman issue from different angles,” Ramon continued. “But at least we both want to make the city safer. Surely we can find a way to meet in the middle?”

Harrison didn’t understand where any of this was coming from. He’d spent the entire meeting antagonizing Ramon – why did he want to partner up? Was he that enamored with the hero worship he’d had for ‘Dr. Wells’?

Worse yet, did Harrison want to get himself into a situation where he spent significant amounts of time around Cisco Ramon’s pretty hair and big eyes? 

God, he was doomed.

“I could be interested,” he said, trying not to sound even the slightest bit _too_ interested. He was a good twenty-five years older than Ramon – there was no way Ramon was thinking of him like that – this was hero worship, pure and simple. They may have been evenly matched as heads of their companies, but he was hardly going to take advantage of some ill-placed hero worship. Ramon was barely older than _Jesse_.

Ramon licked his lips and Harrison’s gaze caught on the movement, staring. Ramon froze, catching the stare, and their eyes locked.

Thankfully, at that exact moment, the phone buzzed. Harrison closed his eyes in thanks for the interruption before stabbing the speakerphone button aggressively. “What?!”

Henry Hewitt’s voice rang out. “Dr. Wells, the labs have been cleared and the technicians have been sent home for the day. Your tour can commence whenever you’d prefer.”

“Thank you, Henry,” Harrison said. He pressed the button under his desk that turned off the metahuman dampeners that blanketed S.T.A.R. Labs and stood, glancing at Ramon. “Shall we?”

Ramon trailed him through the belly of S.T.A.R. Labs and up the elevator to the biology labs, staring at everything with undisguised wonder. He stopped in the third floor elevator lobby to look at the decorations, the current exhibit displaying a history of S.T.A.R. Labs’ technological advances.

“This is baller,” he said, walking in a circle around a display of an old rocket. “A little narcissistic to keep a running history of your own company around your labs like a museum, but baller all the same.” Harrison didn’t know what that even _meant._

Ramon paused in front of what was clearly an old-school cell phone. “What is _that_?” he asked. 

Harrison shook his head. “Are you too young to remember those types of phones?” he asked. “S.T.A.R. Labs developed them in the 90s before we got out of the telecommunications game.”

Ramon squinted at it. “That’s a _phone_?” he asked. God, how young was he?

Harrison cleared his throat. “Anyway, we had run-in with Reverb last night in this hallway over here.” He led him to where Reverb had created his breach and escaped.

Ramon looked around the hallway and closed his eyes, like he was trying to feel or sense something. He frowned. “My powers aren’t that predictable,” he said. “I was hoping something here would bring on a vibe, but I’m not getting anything.”

“Ramon, what exactly do your powers do?” Harrison asked. 

“Call me Cisco,” Ramon said with a grin.

“ _Ramon_ ,” Harrison said again. “What exactly do your powers do?”

Ramon laughed. “I have visions. Not just of the future, also of the past. I sometimes see things before they happen, but sometimes the universe just gives me more information.” He shrugged. “That’s about it. Not quite a supervillain.”

“Still,” said Harrison, “that must be pretty disconcerting. You can’t even predict when the visions will occur?”

“I’ve been doing some tests, but haven’t discovered anything conclusive,” Ramon told him with a shrug. “Sometimes I get a vision of someone or something related to them if I touch them or hold an object that belongs to them. Sometimes I get a vision just by being in the same space. I haven’t found a reliable way to trigger them at all, though.” 

 _Do not get more involved_ , Harry told himself. _Do not get more involved_. “That sounds less than helpful.” 

“I’ll crack the code eventually,” Ramon said with a self-deprecating shrug. “Is there anything around here specifically that Reverb touched?”

Harrison led him into the lab itself and over to the small case where Dr. Fortuna had kept the Velocity 6. The case had been left open on a lab table after they’d retrieved it from the hallway, the whole lab abandoned, and Detective West’s people had been over the room with a fine-toothed comb under the watchful eyes of Henry Hewitt. “My lab assistant was carrying the Velocity 6 in this when Reverb took it from him,” he told Ramon. “He took the serum and discarded the case.”

Ramon nodded and stood next to the case, slowly lowering his hand to clutch at the plastic. He closed his eyes like he was waiting for something to happen.

Harrison watched him for five long seconds before saying, “anything?”

Ramon shook his head. “Today’s an off day,” he said with a sigh. “Sorry." 

“It’s okay,” Harrison said, leaning over to close the case again, his arm brushing Ramon’s in the process. Ramon gasped, his eyes flying closed as he clung to the table like his life depended on it. “Ramon?” Harrison asked, wondering if he was having a vision. His lack of response suggested that he was. “Are you okay?”

Ramon’s eyes blinked back open again after a long moment. He licked his lips. “I saw Zoom,” he said, his voice hoarse, like his throat was very dry. He swayed in place and Harrison caught him before he fell over, leading him to sit at a nearby workbench and trying to ignore how warm he was.

“You saw Zoom,” Harrison repeated, still holding Ramon upright. “What was he doing? Could you tell if it was past or future?”

“He was chasing another speedster,” Ramon gasped. “I don’t know who—or where. He just…he reached out with his hand and _killed_ her.” He swallowed hard. “I need water.”

Harrison glanced around the room and located a mini-fridge in the corner. He hit paydirt on his first try since it didn’t contain samples; instead it was filled with some waters and sodas and the leftovers of someone’s lunch. He brought a bottle of water over to Ramon, who drank from it gratefully like he was dying of thirst. 

“Sorry,” Ramon said after a moment. Harrison hovered over him, knowing he was acting far too concerned about the welfare of a man he’d just met and spent the last hour and a half arguing with. He’d always been unable to turn off his stupid overprotectiveness once it was activated. Somehow in less than two hours, his brain had categorized Ramon as “needs-protecting” in addition to his already ridiculous attraction to the man.

It was so _inconvenient_.

“Do your powers normally affect you like that?” Harrison demanded.

Ramon shook his head. “That’s never happened before. I mean, I guess I get a little dizzy sometimes, but that was intense. He was…Zoom was…he was mad. And I don’t think he was on this Earth.” He swallowed again and drank more water.

It took Harrison’s brain a beat too long to catch up. “What do you mean, not on this Earth?”

Ramon shook his head. “It wasn’t clear, but it looked different. The buildings were wrong, the sky was dull, the people dressed differently. He wasn’t here.” 

“Parallel Earths are just a theory,” Harrison told him. “It’s never been scientifically proven.”

“Yes, but…” Ramon’s eyes went glassy again.

He began to list over, and Harrison wrapped an arm around his back and held him steady. Ramon stared up at him gratefully, reaching up with one hand and unbuttoning the top button of his dress shirt. Harrison looked away from the expanse of dark skin revealed by the open button – what was he, a Victorian maiden, set aflutter by a slight showing of skin on a handsome young man?

“We should get you back down to my office,” he murmured, holding Ramon upright. “You can rest on the couch.”

“Dr. Wells,” Ramon replied, his voice slightly confused. He hated how his heart seized up as Ramon smiled a puzzled smile at up at him before starting to list to the side again. “I think you’re right.” It almost made Harrison wish he’d call him ‘Harry’ instead.

Luckily, Harrison used time at the gym as a way to re-center his focus so that he could tackle more projects, and Ramon wasn’t that large of a person, so he was easily able to heft Ramon up to standing once more. “Can you walk?” he asked. “Or am I going to have to carry you?”

Ramon found his feet, wobbling slightly. “I can walk,” he said. “I’ve never had a vibe make me so woozy before.” His eyes began to look more lucid, like he was coming back to himself. 

Harrison led him into the elevator and back to his office, glad that the biology wing was mostly empty so they didn’t encounter any employees asking uncomfortable questions. His assistant did shoot him a querying look, but Harrison slipped past him to lay Ramon out on the couch in his office.

“It’s not very comfortable,” he said apologetically. “But hopefully it will better than a workbench in the lab.”

Ramon smiled up at him softly. “I’m going to take a nap, if that’s okay,” he said, laying his head back against the small, uncomfortable pillow that usually didn’t have to cushion anyone’s anything. “Thanks, Dr. Wells.” It felt like he was looking through Harrison, as though he wasn’t quite seeing him. The entire experience was uncanny.

Harrison seated himself at his desk, ready to keep watch over him while he finished up his work for the day. He didn’t know why, but every cell of his being was screaming out at him to keep Cisco Ramon safe.

Ramon dozed on the couch in Harrison’s office late into the evening, until Harrison’s phone rang with the upbeat ringtone that Jesse had selected for herself a few years before. He answered quickly, not wanting to wake his new guest.

“Dad!” she exclaimed when he answered. “It’s already seven and it’s pasta night! Where are you?”

Harrison swore and checked the clock on his computer – it read 7:04pm. Between keeping an eye on the man sacked out on his couch and tinkering with the algorithm for metahuman detection on his watch, he’d completely lost track of time.

“I got held up at work, Jesse Quick,” he said, already closing programs and getting ready to power down his computer. “Let me tie up a few loose ends and then I’ll be home in a flash.”

Jesse gave an expressive sigh on the other end of the line. “You do this _all the time_ ,” she said. “You promised you were going to get better.”

Guilt pooled in Harrison’s stomach. “I know,” he said. “But today is different, I promise.” His eyes lit on Ramon, who was just starting to stretch and rub his eyes. He didn’t even know what possessed him to ask the next question. “Do you mind if I bring a guest?”

There was a moment of silence from other end. “A guest?” Jesse repeated at last, a shrewd sharpness in her voice. “We never have guests for dinner. What kind of guest?”

“A business associate,” Harrison said quickly.

“Oh well, yes, of course your _business associate_ can join us,” Jesse said like she was trying to hold in a laugh. God save him from teenage daughters who knew him way, way too well. “This person wouldn’t happen to be the most annoying person alive, would they?" 

Immediately, Harrison regretted his decision – Jesse was going to take one look at Ramon and _know_. Harrison had never bothered to have ‘what happens when your dad starts to date again’ talk with her, but sleepy Cisco Ramon in his wrinkled suit and crushed curls was going to give it all away immediately just by existing.

He was worried about Ramon’s health, that was all. After his difficulties earlier, he needed to make sure that Ramon ate a full meal.

“Don’t question your father. See you in a half hour, Quick,” Harrison said, hanging up with a smile. When he glanced over at Ramon again, he was staring at him like he’d seen a ghost. “What?” 

“You’re a dad,” Ramon said. “I didn’t realize you were a dad.”

“I’ve been a dad for nineteen years,” Harrison told him. It wasn’t like this was news to anyone in Central City. “You still look pale, Ramon. Come back with me; Jesse and I will feed you.” 

Ramon was still staring at him like he’d grown a second head. “You know, I did actually follow your half of that phone call,” he said.

“I want to talk more about the possibility of a joint venture.” Harrison pulled the excuse completely out of thin air.

“That’s good, because I want to talk to _you_ about helping me train my powers,” Ramon replied.

Harrison was completely thrown off base by the suggestion.

“Help you train?” he asked. “Why would I be a good person to help you train? I thought you hated my stance on metahumans.”

Ramon pushed himself upright to sitting, holding up one hand and counting off fingers. “One, you’ve studied metahumans more extensively than anyone else in Central City and understand how they tick. Two, you aren’t afraid to be a jerk when you have to be…or pretty much any time, actually, but that will help me learn. Three, we made a good team, back there when I vibed Zoom.”

His reasoning was about as flimsy as Harrison’s had been for his offer of dinner. Harrison regarded him steadily, wondering if for all his worry about taking advantage of Ramon, in actuality Ramon was seeking to take advantage of _him_. If that was the case, Harrison was already screwed. Four hours in his company and he was a sucker for those eyes.

Harrison wasn’t about to draw attention to Ramon’s lack of logic. “Come to dinner and we’ll discuss it. You’re okay with my daughter knowing about your abilities? I assure you, she’s very discreet.”

Ramon thought it over. “They’re not something I make generally known, but to be honest, it’s far riskier for _you_ to know. I’m fine with talking about it over dinner.”

Harry held out a hand, pulling Ramon to standing and looking him over. “Come on, then,” he said. “Jesse will eviscerate me if we’re late, and that’s not a pretty sight.”

* * *

Ramon loved the roadster and draped himself in the front seat like he wanted to spend his entire life in luxury electric vehicles. He completely disapproved of Harrison’s radio being on the 80s station and hooked his phone into the car’s computer, pulling up some obnoxious-sounding pop.

“No, Ramon,” said Harrison immediately, pulling out of the parking lot of S.T.A.R. Labs. “Are you this irritating to all of your new acquaintances?”

“Of course,” Ramon replied cheerfully. “Don’t call me Ramon, it makes me feel old.”

Harrison raised exactly one eyebrow and turned to glance at him as they pulled up to a red light. Ramon stared him down, unflinching, as peppy pop music filled the car.

“Cisco,” Harrison said at last, like he was biting into a lemon.

“ _Thank_ you. Was that so hard?”

“Heaven forbid I make you feel _old_ ,” Harrison continued. “You’re practically geriatric at twenty-two.” 

“Twenty-six,” Ramon corrected. Good god. Harrison wondered if this was what it felt like to have a heart attack. He focused back on the road again, feeling the back of his neck heat with a blush and thankful that it was so dark inside the car.

They’d remained at S.T.A.R. Labs late enough that rush hour traffic had cleared up, and Harrison made good time driving back to the huge house in the gated subdivision where he and Jesse lived. He didn’t even feel that embarrassed by it; Ramon had money too, after all, probably enough to afford a place similar to Harrison’s.

“You live in the ‘burbs?” Ramon asked as they were getting out of the car. “I’ve never tried it myself, seems boring.”

“Oh, and where do you live?” Harrison asked, pulling his laptop bag from the backseat.

“I have a condo down by the waterfront,” Ramon answered. “It’s a quality bachelor pad.”

Harrison was proud that he didn’t perk his ears up at the term ‘bachelor’, although it took quite a bit of effort. “No spouse, then?” he asked instead, although he’d already taken in the ringless finger on Ramon’s hand. They were technically new colleagues, right? New colleagues asked each other these types of questions.

“Nope, just me,” Ramon answered. He bit his lip and looked at his shoes. “Is there a Mrs. Wells?”

Harrison gestured his garage door closed and opened the door to the house. “I’ve been a widower for over a decade, I’m afraid,” he said. 

Ramon didn’t seem surprised; maybe he’d read about Tess somewhere. “I’m sorry,” he said. 

Harrison led him inside, removing his shoes in the “mud room” (as Jesse called it) and stowing his briefcase on the coatrack. Ramon followed suit and pulled off his dress shoes, revealing Star Wars socks.

“To be fair,” he said when Harrison looked at his socks and raised an eyebrow, “I didn’t exactly expect anyone else to see these today.” He grinned at Harrison. “Don’t be jealous because you wish you had my style.”

“I assure you,” Harrison said drolly, “jealousy was the furthest thing from my mind." 

“Are you actually a dick or is it all just window dressing to keep people from getting close to you?” Ramon asked as Harrison led him towards the kitchen.

Jesse poked her head out of the kitchen. “Bingo! That’s the correct answer!” She looked Ramon up and down, stepping back in surprise. “Oh,” she said. “You were…not what I was expecting." 

“Quick!” Harrison snapped, streaming past her into the kitchen. “What’s our status?”

Jesse was still staring at Ramon, who was watching her back warily, clearly aware that he’d somehow stepped into something awkward. “The pasta’s been cooked and is drained in the sink. All we need from you is to make the sauce – your specialty. And I can get to know….”

“Cisco,” Ramon supplied. 

“ _Ramon_ ,” Harrison corrected despite their conversation in the car. He grabbed a couple tomatoes out of the produce basket and walked over to the stove in their state-of-the-art kitchen. Ramon followed him in, hovering awkwardly near the door.

“From Ramon Industries!” Jesse exclaimed. “I know you! Your metahuman advocacy is iconic.”

“Yeah?” Ramon asked, lighting up. “I just think it’s important. Nobody pays much attention to metas other than to throw them in jail, you know?”

“It’s totally inspired,” Jesse said. Harrison glanced over at her, eyes narrowed, and she gave him a cat-that-got-the-cream look back. Oh, she was _onto_ him. “How old are you, Cisco?” she asked sweetly.

Harrison shook his head; having children had been a mistake.

“Twenty-six,” Ramon replied with an easy grin.

“Woah! I’ve got seven years to build an even better company than you did,” Jesse said. 

“Not so fast, Quick,” Harrison said fondly. “You’re going to inherit S.T.A.R. Labs, no need to build anything from scratch.”

“Maybe I want to build something from scratch,” Jesse replied, clearly in a defiant mood. “Twenty-six, huh? Did you know Dad is—“

“Quick, we’re out of milk. Get me more from the garage?”

Jesse smiled charmingly. “Of course,” she said, heading past Ramon back towards the garage. On her way out the door, she threw Harrison the most unsubtle wink he’d ever seen in his life. _Teenagers_. Wasn’t she supposed to be horrified her dad had brought home someone practically her own age?

Ramon didn’t seem to think anything was amiss in Jesse’s behavior. He padded over to Harry in his Star Wars socks, leaning over the stove to watch him put together a tomato cream sauce. “That smells pretty good.”

Harrison smiled slightly at him. “Hopefully it will taste as good as it smells. Pasta night is a tradition between Jesse and I.”

“I’ve got to say, I didn’t expect you to be such a dad,” Ramon said with a small smile on his face. “You really _are_ different, aren’t you?”

Harrison turned to look closely at him. “Different from what?” he asked.

He didn’t know if it was his imagination or if Ramon flailed a bit. “Different from my imagination,” he said quickly. “I always thought you were this cool guy. Like, a super genius, mentoring everyone, taking young people under your wing. But you’re not, are you?” He peered closer. “You’re almost like a pod person to your media persona." 

“Funny, you’re exactly like your media persona,” Harrison murmured, forgetting for a moment that he was pretending he hadn’t stalked Ramon via social media before meeting him. 

Ramon’s gaze went darker than usual. “You’ve watched my media?” he asked.

Their eyes caught as the sauce sizzled in the pan between them.

“We only had skim but you can still use—oh, I’ll come back,” Jesse said quickly, dropping a carton of skim milk on the kitchen island and scurrying off towards the family room. Harrison and Ramon blinked at each other, both surprised to have been caught staring.

He shouldn’t have invited Ramon to his home. It had been a mistake.

“Jesse Quick!” Harrison shouted in lieu of continuing to stare into Ramon’s eyes. “Can you give Ramon a tour?”

Jesse reappeared in the doorway a moment later. “Of course,” she said, smiling widely. “Come right this way, Cisco.” 

“His name is Ramon!” Harrison shouted after them, but they both laughed at him and vanished into the rest of the house.

Harrison finished up the sauce, staring at it and wondering what he was doing. “Harrison, you idiot,” he muttered. “You should never have done this.”

He mixed the sauce in with the pasta and set it out on the table. At that point, Jesse and Ramon’s voices had faded out, so Harrison decided to go looking for them rather than calling them to dinner. 

He checked the ground floor and couldn’t find them, but the door to the basement was standing suspiciously open. Harrison frowned and crept down.

“What do you mean, you don’t have movie nights here?” Ramon was saying. Ah, Jesse was showing him the home theater. “This would be totally bitchin.”

“Dad doesn’t like people,” Jesse said. Harrison felt the tips of his ears warm – it wasn’t that he didn’t _like_ people, it was just…he didn’t like people.

Ramon burst into musical laughter. “I got that impression,” he said. “He was a total jackass to me when I first met him this afternoon.” There was a momentary pause. “He softens pretty quickly though, yeah?”

This topic of conversation was completely unacceptable. Harrison loudly made his way down the rest of the stairs, peering around the corner at them. Ramon was sprawled in one of the cushioned seats like he didn’t have a care in the world, while Jesse leaned against the wall facing him.

“If you’re done gossiping about me, dinner’s ready,” Harrison said dryly before turning around and heading back upstairs. Jesse and Ramon emerged a few seconds later and seated themselves with him at the table.

Harrison handed the pasta to Jesse, who dutifully doled some onto her plate before handing it to Ramon and grinning like a shark. “So, you just met Dad this afternoon?” she asked archly.

“Detective West and Garrick brought him over,” Harrison explained. 

“Oooh, and how is Jay Garrick?” Jesse asked.

Harrison pointed at her. “No,” he said. 

“Dad, he’s handsome, that’s all." 

“He is definitely one snack of a man,” Ramon agreed. Harrison dropped his fork onto the plate with a clatter.

“Sorry, sorry,” he apologized, cleaning up the sauce that had splashed on the table. He could feel his ears and the back of his neck heating again in embarrassment, but when he finally had the guts to raise his eyes back to Ramon’s, Ramon had the audacity to smile at him like the sun.

Harrison mentally kicked himself. What was _wrong_ with him?

Thankfully, Jesse had inherited all of her mother’s social savviness and almost none of her father’s awkwardness. “What are you and Dad working on, then?” she continued, peering at Ramon.

“Ramon has the ability to see the future,” Harrison announced. “We were trying to track down Zoom with his powers.”

Jesse’s eyes went as big as saucers. “You’re a metahuman,” she breathed. “That’s so cool.”

Ramon shrugged. “I haven’t exactly mastered my powers yet,” he said modestly. “Your dad offered to help me figure them out.”

“ _Did_ he?” Jesse asked meaningfully. Harrison refused to look at her, and Jesse seemed to have realized she was about one quip away from making him send her to her room, because she dialed it back. “Well, you can have no better teacher than my dad,” she said. “He has a short temper and can be a jerk sometimes, but if anyone can figure out your powers, it’s him.”

“I know you’ve had trouble activating them,” Harrison said. “Can you think of anything the instances they’ve worked have had in common?”

Ramon chewed his pasta thoughtfully before swallowing. “It’s hard to say,” he mused. “Maybe it’s related to adrenaline; it always seems to happen when I’m…freaked out about something?” He licked his lips.

“Interesting,” Harrison mused. “Maybe we need to find a way to artificially stimulate the fear receptors in your brain.” Ramon looked thoughtful.

After dinner, Jesse cleared away the dishes while Harrison and Ramon returned to the basement to try to figure out how to make Ramon’s powers more reliable.

“I could create a device,” Harry mused, sketching out a brief example on a notepad and passing it to Ramon. “It could create a wavelength trigger that would stimulate your fear receptors. It might work best with glasses or goggles, almost like Reverb uses; the wavelength trigger would be positioned perfectly. We should also try to get some brain scans when you’re already vibing, see what your brain is doing; we can modify the goggles to replicate that state.”

Ramon was starting to smile again, his grin infectious. “That could work,” he said. “And if I could control the visions, I can be more help with the fight against Zoom.” He got a determined look in his eye. “The only way metahumans are going to get a good name for themselves in this city is if more of us stand up to the ones creating havoc.”

“The Flash doesn’t count?” Harrison asked, a quirk to his smile.

“The Flash is just one man,” said Ramon. “I’m going to find more of us. Dr. Wells—Harry—I’m going to do this. I started with nothing. I have no family, I’m far from my home, with no money, no network, and no confidence. _I_ pulled together Ramon Industries from scratch and now _I’m_ going to be the one to help metahumans use their powers for good.” There was an intensity about him that Harrison found intoxicating – no wonder Ramon had been featured in Forbes as one of the most promising CEOs under 30.

“We,” said Harrison. 

Ramon blinked, looking up at him. “We?” he echoed.

“ _We’re_ going to help metahumans use their powers for good,” Harrison corrected, despite that this was not a personal desire he’d had until approximately five hours beforehand. “You’re right – the bad metahumans get all the press, and the ones that mind their own business or do small amounts of good in their communities don’t even get attention. Garrick is practically useless – sometimes I think he fights more for the flashy publicity than for the sake of winning battles.” Harry reached into his cabinet and pulled out two tumblers and a bottle of fancy scotch. “Shall we toast to this new partnership?”

Ramon nodded, his eyes shining. Harrison poured the scotch and they clinked glasses before finishing up the plans for Ramon’s goggles.

The hour grew late, but Harrison couldn’t stop himself from continuing to brainstorm with Ramon, enjoying the sight of him in his lab in his dress shirt, slightly unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up, his suit jacket left on the kitchen table hours before. The whole evening felt easy, hazy, like the time was drifting by, thick as molasses.

Ramon finally glanced at his phone and exclaimed, “it’s already past ten?” Jesse had left them to their own devices, although Harrison could hear the faint sounds of the television upstairs. “I’ve got to get going,” Ramon said, gathering up his things and running a hand through his curls. “I have an early meeting tomorrow.” He finished up his glass of scotch. “Is it difficult to call an Uber to your swanky gated community?”

“The guard lets them through,” Harrison told him. “I’ll walk you out.” He and Ramon made their way back upstairs, grabbing Ramon’s jacket and passing the family room, where Jesse was sacked out on the couch watching some trashy reality show. 

“Cisco!” she exclaimed, not bothering to move from the couch. “Are you leaving?”

“It was nice to meet you, Jesse,” Ramon said with a smile.

“Hopefully you’ll be around here more often,” Jesse said with a slow smile. Harrison made a face at her and hurried Ramon back to the mud room to grab his shoes before waiting with him on the front steps. The early summer air was thick with humidity, even after dark, and the sound of crickets buzzed in the air.

Ramon smiled lazily at him as they waited for his Uber. “I have to say, when Detective West asked me to accompany her to S.T.A.R. Labs, I didn’t expect that this is where my day would end up,” he said.

“I didn’t expect this either,” Harrison said. He hadn’t intended to make it sound like he was talking about anything more than the events of that day, but the unexpectedness of the kick to his heart that Cisco Ramon had produced had left him flustered, breathless, and he feared that the breadth of that feeling bled through his voice. “We should set up another meeting soon. To do some brain scans and discuss your training.”

“My training,” Ramon repeated, staring at Harrison’s mouth. “Totally.”

For a moment, they scrutinized each other, silence thick between them. Harrison felt like tension was scattering across his skin, heavy in his stomach.

An unfamiliar car pulled into the driveway, distracting them. “There’s my ride,” Ramon said, turning and starting down the walk to the driveway. “It’s been fun, Harry.”

“Have a good evening, Ramon,” Harrison replied.

“Call me Cisco!” Ramon reminded him as he approached the car. A moment later, he was gone, leaving Harry standing on the stoop, looking out over the mild June evening.

* * *

Jesse, of course, grilled Harrison the moment he came back inside.

“Soooo,” she said from the couch as he walked back indoors and immediately headed to the kitchen to pour himself another glass of scotch. “Let’s talk about Cisco Ramon.”

“We’re not talking about this,” said Harrison, which was the wrong answer because then Jesse _knew_ she was right.

“You _do_ like him!” she exclaimed. “I knew it! You never bring anyone home!”

Harrison took a long sip of the scotch, enjoying the burn as it made its way down his throat. “Shouldn’t you be resentful about this?” he asked, walking into the family room and sitting on the couch next to her.

“Maybe five years ago,” Jesse said thoughtfully. “But you’re so lonely. The only things you have in your life are work and me.” She shrugged. “I liked him. I want you to be happy, especially since I’m eventually going to finish college and move out." 

“You’re never moving out,” Harrison informed her calmly. “You’re going to live here with me until I keel over and croak.” 

“Not funny,” Jesse said, sticking her tongue out at him. “It’s good. Cisco can distract you from being a helicopter parent.” 

“You shouldn’t call him Cisco,” Harrison told her, a little salty. “He’s a business associate.”

“He told me to call him Cisco,” Jesse said like this was the simplest thing ever. “You should call him Cisco, too. If you continue to call him Ramon, he’s going to think this is just business.” 

Harrison dropped his head into his hands. “This _is_ just business, Jesse Quick,” he said, sighing softly. “I should never have even brought him over here.” Cisco Ramon was young, handsome, and brilliant – everything Harrison should have stayed away from.

“He likes you, too,” Jesse said.

“I’ve known the man for five hours and you’ve spent less time with him than even I have,” Harrison said. “How on earth could you possibly know that?”

Jesse smirked. “I inherited Mom’s ability to read people. He was watching for your approval all night. He didn’t take his eyes off of you.”

Harrison scoffed. “You’re closer to his age than I am. If there was someone in this family he’d be interested in, it’d be more likely to be you than me. Also, this is not an appropriate conversation to be having with my teenaged daughter.”

Jesse’s eyeroll was expressive. “I’m nineteen, Dad. I’ve dated before, I know how it works. Also, I’m all you’ve got. Who else are you going to talk about your love life with? _Henry_?”

Harrison massaged his temples and, not for the first time, wished he had more friends his own age. He and Tess had been part of a group of couple-friends, long ago, but they’d all become distant after Tess had passed away and he’d buried himself in his work, his only companion usually Jesse.

“I’m headed up to bed,” Harrison finally said, finishing his glass of scotch and taking it back to the kitchen. He turned out the lights in the basement and pressed a kiss to the crown of Jesse’s head. “Don’t spend too much time rotting your brain with this trash.”

“Excuse me, Big Brother is a window into the human condition,” Jesse told him seriously. “How am I supposed to learn how to form alliances and backstab my business partners if I don’t watch this?" 

He smiled fondly at her. “Don’t stay up too late.”

As he lay in bed, his brain could not stop playing the day over in his head like a refrain - Cisco Ramon’s hair, his smile, his dark, beautiful eyes. This was not a temptation that he was going to give in to, despite what Jesse said about him being lonely.

He’d keep his distance, he vowed to himself as he began to drift off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come join me on [tumblr](https://saucy-kate.tumblr.com/)! Next chapter should be up sometime this week depending on my general level of exhaustion and how many nights I end up working late. Stay tuned.


	3. Chapter 3

Cisco had obviously not received the memo about keeping his distance.

Harrison had just arrived at the office, gotten himself a large mug of coffee, and sat down at his computer to find an email from Cisco (and curses, he was starting to think of him as ‘Cisco’) with a timestamp from 1:30am waiting for him in his inbox.

He frowned and opened it.

The email read:

_‘Had some more ideas about the Vibe Goggles! (Sweet name, right?) It’s probably best if the actual part that stimulates the fear receptors is constructed from graphene to maximize the conductivity of the material. If we can actually create these and make them work, I’m down to start hunting Zoom right away. You’re the best, Harry! –Cisco”_

Harrison glared at it like it would make the email disappear into smoke. Not only was it far too peppy for his current mental state, but he needed to get Cisco Ramon out of his head, not burrow him in deeper.

 _‘Ramon_ ,’ he wrote back quickly. ‘ _These are good ideas, but I hope you got some sleep in addition to brainstorming about your goggles.’_

He sent the email before he could second-guess himself and started working, first checking over S.T.A.R. Labs’ second quarter financials before hopping on a call with one of his investors. He almost managed to forget that Cisco existed for a full three hours before another email popped up in his mailbox.

‘ _Harry, you of all people should understand that sleeping wastes the best hours for inspiration,’_ was all it read.

Harrison tossed back the last of his coffee and hit reply immediately.

‘ _So insomnia is the secret to your success?’_ he typed out. ‘ _Youth is wasted on the young.’_

He opened another email from the head of his astrophysics research division, intending to do some real work, when his mailbox gave a ‘ding’ and Cisco’s reply appeared.

‘ _If you’re going to make digs at my age, you can at least do it via text,’_ the email read, followed by a phone number. Harrison read the short email again and swallowed hard. The electric feeling in his gut was back.

Years of experience told him there was a decent chance that it was not just him in deep with this thing, whatever it was, and that thought was absolutely terrifying. Did he want to do it? Would texting Cisco cross a line that he wasn’t sure he was ready to cross?

He thought about it for the next few hours while he sat through a directors’ meeting, met up for lunch with Christina McGee, and discussed Reverb’s attack with a reporter for his allotted twenty minutes of media time. It wasn’t until he found himself sitting in a meeting with his biology division supervisors talking about how they could improve their proposal for the Department of the Interior to best counter Ramon Industries that he finally cracked.

The moment he was back in his office, he pulled up Cisco’s email and added his number to his contacts before he could second guess himself.

 _‘Is this better?’_ he texted, frowning down at the screen. ‘ _I hope you’re not going to make me use emojis like Jesse.’_

He shoved his phone away from him like it had burnt him and went back to work, trying to distract himself. Concentrating on work lasted ten minutes, until Detective West called his office phone to ask about how much progress they’d made on tracking Zoom and Reverb.

“Ramon is still figuring out how to use his powers,” Harrison told her, “but we have some ideas on how to jumpstart them and we should have some answers for you soon." 

“Good,” she said, clearly impatient for answers. “The longer that Zoom holds this city in his sway, the more taxpayers are going to start demanding more draconian solutions to the metahuman problem. I hope you’ll have an answer for me fast.”

While she was speaking, Harrison’s cell phone chimed from beneath the stack of papers he’d shoved it under. Harrison quickly unburied it and read the new text that had come in.

‘ _Much better,’_ was all it read, plus a string of random emojis that Harrison couldn’t make heads or tails of. He sighed and rolled his eyes to the heavens, unable to help the small smile that tweaked the corners of his mouth. 

“Wells?” Detective West asked, the tension in her voice making it clear that this wasn’t the first time she’d said his name in an attempt to get his attention.

“I’m here,” Harrison replied. “There’s a lot going on at S.T.A.R. Labs today.” The lie felt thick on his tongue. “Ramon and I will keep working at it and get you some answers soon.” 

“Good,” said Detective West. “Keep me in the loop.” She hung up on him without further ceremony. Harrison wished most of his work calls could go so smoothly.

He painstakingly typed out another text to Cisco. ‘ _Just spoke to Detective West,’_ he said. ‘ _She wants us to work quickly to get information on Zoom and Reverb. Do you have time to come by S.T.A.R. Labs this evening for a brain scan so we can start building your goggles?’_ He ignored the swoop in his stomach as he thought about seeing Cisco again.

Cisco’s response came back quickly. ‘ _well i guess if iris demands it,’_ he said, following it up with an emoji sticking out its tongue. ‘ _i can be by around 6? i’ll bring food.’_

 _‘Big Belly Burger,’_ was all Harry sent him in reply, trying to hide his smile.

‘ _really??? terrible taste.’_

‘ _Triple Triple,’_ Harry added.

‘ _see u at 6 with some awful fast food.’_

Harrison tried to pretend there was no spring in his step for the rest of the afternoon, but that would have been a blatant lie. 

* * *

Six in the evening arrived before Harrison knew it. He almost sprung out of his chair when he heard the knock at his door at 6:05, forcing himself to rise calmly and walk to the door. He’d already deactivated the metahuman dampeners in anticipation of working with Cisco to hone his powers, and he was giving some serious thought to just keeping them off permanently so that he didn’t accidentally inconvenience Cisco. This—whatever it was—was clearly already making him stupid.

Cisco stood outside his office wearing a dress shirt with an even louder print than the day before, coupled with well-tailored trousers that nicely accentuated parts of him that Harrison tried not to think about. Cisco had forgone the suit jacket this time, back to his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and Harrison couldn’t stop himself from eyeing the musculature of his forearms, his mouth dry. He also had his pretty hair pulled back from his face, in a little ponytail at the nape of his neck.

From the smirking twist of his mouth, Cisco hadn’t missed Harrison’s scrutiny, but he held up a bag from Big Belly Burger.

“I got your terrible food,” he said, tossing it playfully at Harrison, who caught the bag deftly and carried it over to the coffee table, spreading their food out while they sat on the couches.

“Did you get enough fries?” Harrison asked sarcastically as he pulled out an extra-large container. Ramon grinned and took it from him, their fingers brushing. Harrison’s breath caught.

“You can never have enough fries,” Cisco told him, staring up at him through those ridiculous eyelashes.

They ate quickly before Harrison led Cisco (carrying the still-full container of fries) down to his personal workshop in the cortex of the S.T.A.R. Labs building to begin working on the ‘Vibe Goggles’.

“I had Dr. Hewitt, my lab assistant, procure some materials for us today,” Harrison told him, watching as Cisco popped a fry into his mouth and trying not to spend too much mental energy thinking about that mouth. “I think this should be all we need to put together some goggles for you.”

Cisco went through the materials with wide eyes. “You were able to get all of this together in less than a day?” he asked, awe in his voice. “If I tried to do this, it would take at least a week.”

“We’re a bigger company,” Harrison said with a shrug. “We have more resources, more materials on hand. I have a warehouse in Starling City that holds all the engineering components you could ever want.” He gave Cisco a grin that he hoped didn’t seem too predatory. “You’re lucky you’re working with me.”

“Very lucky,” Cisco replied genuinely, no sarcasm present in his voice. Harrison couldn’t believe how charmed he was by Cisco’s _everything_ as he began to rustle through the materials, pulling out what he needed and putting it aside.

“I told the biology division to clear out the room that held our MRI machine before they left today,” Harrison said as Cisco continued to geek out over the materials. “Shall we start with some brain scans? Maybe we can try to trigger a vibe while you’re in there.”

Cisco nodded, a stray lock of hair coming loose from his ponytail. Harrison resisted the urge to reach out and tuck it back behind his ear. 

Instead, he took the container of fries and led Cisco to the elevators. The biology division had kept their workspaces clear as directed – it had been easy to lie and say it was still part of the police investigation – and Harrison led Cisco through the labs to the MRI machine.

“Do you even know how to operate that thing?” Cisco asked with a cheeky grin.

“Get into the machine, Ramon,” Harrison ordered. “I have seven PhDs. I can manage.” 

Cisco climbed into the machine, his voice echoing back to Harrison. “That doesn’t mean you know what you’re doing.”

“You don’t have any metal in your head or anything, do you?” Harrison asked dubiously as the machine warmed up.

“Metal in my head?” Cisco’s voice echoed back. “Your bedside manner could use some work.”

Harrison felt himself flush. “It’s fortunate I never became a doctor. My only patients are machines, and unlike some people, they don’t talk back.”

They began with a normal MRI to see Cisco’s brain at resting. Once they had a starting point, Harrison instructed Cisco to try to vibe. Unfortunately, Cisco’s inability to vibe on cue was partly the reason why they were running scans in the first place.

“It’s not working,” Cisco said petulantly. Harrison had handed him several objects from around the lab to hold, from a beaker to a picture frame, but nothing was triggering any visions. He was going to have to try to get Cisco’s adrenaline going. 

He glanced around the room before turning off the light with a twist of his wrist. Suddenly, the only light they were bathed in was from the monitors in front of Harrison and the lights on the MRI machine itself.

“Harry?” Cisco’s voice echoed. “I can’t see. What’s happening?”

“Stay there, Ramon,” Harry ordered. What else could he do to get Cisco's adrenaline going?

“Harry,” Cisco said again. “Was there a power outage? Should I come out?”

“Stay there a bit longer,” he said. “Keep trying to vibe.” He grabbed a magnet from a nearby desk, apparently a souvenir from someone’s recent trip to Atlantis. He walked over and pressed it into Cisco’s palm, letting his fingers brush against Cisco’s skin, a small allowance to his own absurdity.

Cisco’s gasp told him that it had finally worked. He hurriedly activated the machine again as he asked, “are you vibing?”

“Dude, Atlantis is _awesome_ ,” Cisco said, the awe clear in his voice even as it echoed out from the machine. “You may be a crappy boss but at least you pay your employees enough that they get to have great vacations.”

“Thanks,” Harrison said dryly. The scans were loading up on the screens in front of him and he studied them curiously, transposing them next to the original scans from Cisco’s non-vibing brain. It was fascinating – Cisco’s brain was lit up like a firework in the second scan, every single part of it operating at a higher level, but the strongest pattern was found in his amygdala, not surprising considering it took an adrenaline rush to trigger his powers.

While Harrison studied the differences in the two scans, Cisco slid out of the machine and walked up behind him, examining the readouts over his shoulder. It was still dark in the room, and Cisco stood slightly too close. Harrison could feel the warmth radiating from him and closed his eyes to steady himself 

“It’s definitely connected to adrenaline, huh,” Cisco said, pointing at the second scans. “Look at everything my brain is doing here though! It’s hard at work.”

“This should give us a place to start,” Harry said, turning back around and finding himself face to face with Cisco, his face bathed in the light from the monitors enough that Harrison caught the deer-in-headlights look that briefly flashed across his face.

He leaned up without further encroaching in Cisco’s space and flicked his wrist, the bright industrial lighting filling the room once more. Cisco took a step back as the lights went back on, a slight flush to his cheeks.

Harrison wasn’t sure what had just happened, but he certainly knew how to divert attention. “Let’s get to work.”

They worked long into the night, constructing makeshift goggles with a wavelength trigger using an old pair of sunglasses as a base model. Harrison barely looked at the clock while they sat there, heads bent together, bouncing ideas off of each other and trying new things.

As the goggles came together, they were starting to look more and more familiar. “I wonder if this could help us catch Reverb,” Harrison wondered idly. “These glasses look similar to his.”

Cisco shook his head. “Reverb is way more powerful than I am, even if our powers may be similar. There’s not really much I can do against him.”

Harrison raised an eyebrow. “We still don’t know how a huge amount about how Reverb’s powers work, Ramon.”

“Cisco,” Cisco corrected. 

Harrison gave him a stone expression in response. Cisco threw a cold fry at him.

They worked until Cisco began yawning and practically falling over at the workstation. “Ramon,” Harrison said, “it’s late. You should be heading home.”

Cisco blinked sleepily at him. “I should,” he confirmed. “Same time tomorrow?”

Harrison was supposed to be getting dinner with the CEO of a plastics firm that they were trying to get a contract with; he made a mental note to reschedule it. “Same time tomorrow,” he repeated.

Cisco smiled brightly at him and put down the glasses. “I’ll be here.”

Harrison escorted Cisco up to the lobby, which was dark and empty and somewhat eerie. Cisco looked up at him as they stopped in front of the exit, his brow furrowed.

“What is it?” Harrison asked, not sure how to read his furtive expression. 

Cisco shook his head. “Nothing. You’re just full of surprises, Harry.” He walked off with a small wave, leaving Harrison watching him go, his heart a speeding car, practically flying but knowing there would be a crash in the near future.

* * *

Cisco and Harrison worked on the goggles for several more nights in between dinner, comparing their opinions of movies, and debating about their shared love of science. Cisco slowly took over more and more of Harry’s workroom, mugs and bags of candy appearing almost overnight.

“How does your company feel about you spending so much time at S.T.A.R. Labs?” Harrison asked, watching Cisco glue something to the goggles while a gummy worm hung out of his mouth. Harrison was transfixed by Cisco’s candy obsession and found himself watching uncomfortably as Cisco walked around with gummy worms and licorice sticks hanging out of his mouth at all times.

“My company is just me, my marketing team, the guy who runs our operations, and my lawyer,” Cisco said around the gummy worm. “You know we just launched like a month ago, right?”

“Still, S.T.A.R. Labs is a competitor,” Harrison pointed out. “You probably shouldn’t be spending so much time with me.”

Cisco sucked up the last bit of the worm. Harrison looked away, feeling uncomfortably warm.

“Are you trying to get rid of me, Harry?” Cisco asked teasingly. He reached for another gummy worm from the bag and Harrison pulled it out of his reach. “Hey!”

“These things will rot your teeth,” Harrison said roughly.

“They help me concentrate,” Cisco said blithely. “I like candy." 

“I’ve _noticed_ ,” Harrison said, trying for derisive and finding it came out more desperate than anything else. Cisco blinked at him, spots of color appearing in his cheeks, before he gave a small smile.

“Have you?” he asked.

This was dangerous, rocky ground. The attraction between the two of them was nitroglycerin, unstable and ready to explode at any moment. Cisco caught his lower lip between his teeth and watched Harrison, expression unreadable.

“Ramon, get back to work,” Harrison said, his voice faint. “And stop ruining your teeth with that junk.”

Cisco grinned at him. “Whatever you say, Harry,” he replied, going back to the goggles. The moment Harrison’s back was turned, of course, he’d snatched the gummy worms back.

Jesse was delighted when they spent that entire Saturday elbow to elbow in Harry’s basement workshop, listening to terrible music and sharing quips. She cooked them a simple yet tasty dinner and spent a lot of time ‘looking for things in the movie room’ while watching Harrison and wiggling her eyebrows at him suggestively. Having children had definitely been a mistake.

Cisco seemed charmed by Jesse despite everything.

“I’m glad you have her,” he said. “She seems good for you.”

Harrison glanced up over the rims of his glasses, which were perched precariously on his nose as he worked to remove a small screw. “You’ve known me for five days, Ramon." 

Cisco swallowed visibly. “In those five days, I already feel like I can see how empty and lonely your life would be without her. All you’d have is S.T.A.R. Labs.” He grinned. “Although maybe if your employees were all you had, you’d treat them better.”

“Maybe if my employees were half as brilliant as you are, they’d deserve to be treated better,” Harrison quipped, pushing his glasses back up with one finger. “Did you decide to just create your own company straight out of school? If we’d seen your resume, we definitely would have hired you.”

Cisco glanced down at the table like he was studying the smooth metal. “There were some road blocks that kept me from obtaining a traditional job in the last few years,” he said vaguely, “but those just inspired me to take a leap of faith and start my own business. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re capable of until your easy options are removed from the equation.” 

Harrison watched him for a moment. “You’ve certainly proven yourself capable of running your own company,” he said at last.

Cisco grinned, finally looking back up at him. “I’ve done okay. And honestly, Harry, I appreciate the thought, but it’s probably better that you’re not my boss.” He licked his lips, pushing a stray curl behind his ear. 

Harrison stepped closer almost involuntarily, not sure if he was reading the situation wrong. “Why not?” he asked, his voice dropping a bit in octave.

Cisco watched him carefully through his lashes, turning his face up, almost like he was asking to be kissed. Harrison thought about what it would be like to close the distance between them and lean down. He took one step closer and Cisco swayed into his orbit, the room totally still around them. Harrison leaned his face down, their mouths inches apart. Their fingers brushed. 

“Dad!” Jesse shouted from upstairs. “Your phone is ringing and they’ve called twice! I think it’s important.”

Harrison jumped back like he’d been burnt, putting sufficient distance between them before Jesse came thundering down the stairs holding his chirping phone. Harrison took it from her testily, answering with a cranky, “hello?!” that he hoped would make the person on the other end rethink their decision to bother him on a Saturday.

It turned out to be Henry. “Sorry to bother you, Dr. Wells!” he said. “The R&D department was testing the new drones that we’re selling to the military and accidentally started a fire. It’s all been taken care of and there wasn’t much damage, but I wanted to inform you.”

Harrison sighed and massaged his temples. Hewitt was doing his job; he was not going to verbally eviscerate him, even though he really, _really_ wanted to. “We’ll have to get our insurance company through to look at the damage before Monday,” Harrison said instead. “Can I trust you with that, Hewitt?”

There was momentarily silence on the other end. “You’re _trusting_ me with that?” Hewitt sounded shocked.

“Hewitt, S.T.A.R. Labs wouldn’t run without you,” Harrison said. “You probably know more about what was damaged than I do. You’re qualified to handle the situation. Let me know if you need my help.” 

“Of course!” Hewitt replied, still sounding shell-shocked as they hung up.

Harrison finally looked back at Cisco for the first time since Jesse had interrupted them. Cisco was watching him with a small smile. Whatever crackling energy had filled the room had dissipated, although Harrison’s heartbeat was still elevated, his palms sweaty.

“Should we get back to work?” Cisco asked, the smile not leaving his face.

Harrison nodded and returned to the goggles, reminding himself that he was _not_ going let this situation with Cisco cloud his judgment, no matter how much it was temping to do otherwise.

Finally, after a few days of hard work, they were ready to move on to testing.

Cisco met him at S.T.A.R. Labs the next Monday evening as always, bringing Thai food. After eating in Harrison’s office, they moved down to the workshop.

“I think the goggles are pretty much done,” Cisco said, leaning back against one of the worktables. 

Harrison picked up the makeshift goggles, which were tinted blue with the materials they had used to construct them, and lined them up with Cisco’s eyes. Cisco went quiet, his breath audibly catching. 

“Should we try them?” Harrison asked, his voice barely above a whisper. Cisco nodded and licked his lips.

Harrison gently slipped the glasses onto Cisco’s face, reaching over and moving some of his hair out of the way to ensure they were sitting properly behind his ears. He moved away and waited expectantly to see if Cisco would “vibe”.

“Anything?” he asked as Cisco didn’t react. 

“Nada,” said Cisco with a frown. “Maybe I need to be touching something so I can vibe.” He reached out to grasp Harrison’s forearm. “Maybe this will—“

As his hand connected with Harrison’s bare skin, he gasped and sat up straight as a board, remaining that way for several long moments while Harrison watched nervously. Cisco’s hand on his arm was a warm anchor, and he resisted the urge to cover it with his own as he waited for Cisco’s vision to fade.

Cisco removed his hand and pulled the glasses off after a long moment, turning them over in his hands.

“What did you see?” Harrison asked. 

“Well, it worked,” Cisco said shortly. “It definitely triggered whatever synapses in my brain activate my vibing ability.”

“What did you see, Ramon?” Harrison asked again, not willing to let him dodge the question.

Cisco glanced at the watch on his wrist. “It’s 11:40!” he exclaimed. “I lost track of time. Let’s continue these tomorrow?” He folded the glasses up and slipped them in his pocket. “I might do some testing on my own tonight as well.”

Harrison nodded. He wasn’t really sure what had happened, but Cisco was already seeing himself out of the lab, headed towards the elevator without waiting for Harrison. Whatever he’d seen in that vision, it had freaked him out. Harrison hoped that it hadn’t been anything that reflected badly on him. 

Harrison cleaned up the workshop and headed down to his office to gather his things before going to his car. The whole ride home, he couldn’t get his mind off of Cisco’s wide, scared eyes when he’d removed the goggles.

* * *

The whole next day, Cisco didn’t contact him.

After several hours, Harrison found himself turning his phone off silent so he wouldn’t miss a text. He checked his email religiously. He tried to distract himself with work. At around three, he lost all sense of dignity completely and sent Cisco a text instead, reading ‘ _Should I expect you by to continue testing the goggles tonight?’_

There was no response.

Harrison found himself filled with nervous energy. He paced back and forth in his office. He called Jesse, made sure she knew he might not be home for dinner. He made improvements to his diagnostic sketches for the glasses. His phone continued to be silent, his inbox empty. 

By the time the evening rolled around, Harrison had given up on Cisco showing up. He made his way down to the workshop alone, looking at the worktable where they’d spent the last week side by side. 

It was past seven and his phone was still silent. It was obvious that Cisco wasn’t going to show.

Harrison drove home feeling like a fool for getting swept up in whatever-that-had-been. Clearly, Cisco had seen something during his vision that he’d disliked, something about Harrison, and he’d decided it was a better idea to stay away. Honestly, Harrison couldn’t really blame him.

“What’s wrong?” Jesse demanded immediately when he stepped foot inside. “You’re home early. I thought you and Cisco would be elbow to elbow in the labs again tonight.” 

Harrison sank heavily onto the couch in the family room, reminding myself that it was okay that everything had vanished like smoke – he still had Jesse, and she was worth the world to him. “He didn’t show,” he muttered.

Jesse watched him, concerned. “I’m sure he had a good reason,” she said.

Harrison still wasn’t comfortable discussing much about Cisco with his nineteen-year-old daughter. He shrugged. 

Jesse sat beside him and pulled him into a sideways hug, hooking her chin over his shoulder. He rested his head against hers, sighing.

“Did you act like yourself again?” she asked after a long moment.

Harrison pulled away, offended. “I don’t know what you mean.” 

“Daaaad.” Jesse hugged him again. “You know how you can get. You don’t like feelings, and when you have them, you lash out and attack rather than dealing with them. Did you say something mean to Cisco?”

Harrison had to admit that Jesse was right on the money about him, but the worst part was, this time he _hadn’t even done that_! He’d been maybe not cordial but at least non-combative with Cisco for the most part.

“It wasn’t anything I did,” Harrison said miserably. “He saw something. When we got his goggles working. Whatever it was, it scared him enough that he fled and I haven’t heard from him since.”

Jesse was thoughtful for a moment. “Okay,” she said. “Weird visions are harder to fix.”

“There’s nothing to fix, Quick,” Harrison said, running a hand through her hair. “Ramon and I are barely colleagues. At most, we’re rivals. I was helping him with a project, and in turn, he was helping me find Reverb and stop Zoom. He doesn’t owe me anything.” Harrison didn’t even put words to the sick weight of fear in his stomach, fear that Cisco had vibed something terrible about him. If that was what had happened, Harry couldn’t do anything about it.

“I know you liked him,” Jesse said finally. 

Harrison stared at the wall. “It’s been one day,” he said. “Let’s not use the past tense with Cisco yet.” 

“You just called him Cisco!” Jesse exclaimed, patting him on the head. “There’s still hope for you.”

Harrison appreciated her optimism, but he feared it was too late for his lonely, empty life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Come hang out with me on [tumblr](https://saucy-kate.tumblr.com/)! Next part will be posted this weekend at latest, possibly on Friday. You guys are the best!


	4. Chapter 4

A week of silence from Cisco passed uneventfully before Zoom attacked once more.

Harrison’s first inkling that something was wrong came from a call from Detective West. “Wells,” she said in her usual no-nonsense voice. “Zoom is attacking Iron Heights.”

Harrison immediately turned on the news, but there was nothing about a Zoom attack, just a headline about a train derailment outside of the city. “Since when?” he asked. “The news doesn’t have anything about it.”

“We’re trying to keep it quiet,” West said, her tone tense. “He’s already broken into the regular prison and he’s working on trying to get inside the meta wing.” 

Harrison’s blood went cold. “The meta wing is filled with all the metas we’ve stopped in the last year,” he said.

“We think Zoom is trying to turn off the dampening effect,” West said. “Nobody can get near to find out more; Zoom just kills them.”

Harrison was already pulling his pulse gun out and strapping it around himself. “I’m on my way,” he said. “I’m the one who designed the dampener. You need me to make sure Zoom can’t take it down.”

“Agreed,” said West. “I’ll meet you at the east entrance.”

Harrison’s pulse beat steadily. He had never put himself in a situation where he was so close to Zoom before.

He got into his car and drove with record speed to Iron Heights, finding Detective West pacing on the perimeter backed up by an entire tactical team outfitted with military-grade gear. The sour frown on her face told Harrison that nothing had been resolved since her phone call a half hour earlier.

“What’s the situation?” he asked. 

“The officer that we tried to send inside is dead. Zoom attempted to disable the meta-dampening from inside, but hasn’t managed to turn it off yet.”

Harrison looked at the looming walls of Iron Heights, very aware that Zoom was not very far from him. “If he’s within the dampening effect, he won’t have his super speed,” he said. “This may be our chance to snatch him.”

West shook her head. “Unfortunately, he’s brought along associates.” Her mouth was pressed into a thin line. “Zoom wasn’t the one who murdered my officer.”

“Who’s with him?” Harrison asked, hefting his pulse gun. “Reverb?”

“We think Reverb might be there as well, but the only ones we’ve confirmed are Deathstroke and Killer Frost.”

“Charming,” Harrison muttered. “So those two aren’t allowing anyone near Zoom while he’s compromised.” He went back to his car and started rooting around in the trunk. “Luckily for you, I brought something.” He pulled a box out of the car, not very large, and tossed it in Detective West’s direction.

She caught it deftly and snapped it open. “Dampening cuffs,” she said sourly. “We have plenty of those.” 

Harrison shook his head. “I modified these,” he said. “These create a dampening field around them rather than only working when they’re touching a meta. That means, if you can get close enough to Zoom’s metas, or even Zoom himself, with these---“

“It’ll disable their powers, allowing us to cuff them permanently,” West finished. “I like that. Do you have two pairs?”

“Unfortunately, only one,” said Harrison. “But hopefully one will be enough.”

“Good,” said West. She took the cuffs over to the leader of the tactical team and they conferred for a moment before he nodded and took the cuffs from her. “Our team’s going to try to break past Killer Frost and the man with her. Wells, my husband is monitoring the dampening technology. Since you designed it, I’m sending you over to help him.”

“Got it,” Harrison replied. “By the way,” he added, glancing around, “where’s Garrick?”

“A train derailed on its way into Central City and the Flash is still working on the rescue efforts,” West said. “He decided to stay there since more civilians are impacted but says he’ll join us once he’s done.” The look on her face was not pleased, but Wells was unsurprised. Garrick’s flair for the dramatics was only matched by his incompetence. 

West pointed him in the direction of a nondescript white van parked discreetly at the edge of the parking lot, out of the way of the hustle and bustle. When Harrison pulled open the back doors and let himself inside, a skinny, nerdy-looking guy in huge round glasses looked up from his laptop screen, surprised. “Your wife sent me,” Harrison told him.

“Oh my god,” said the man. “You’re Dr. Harrison Wells.”

Harrison scanned the man up and down – cute in a skinny way, mid-20s, looked at his feet a lot – and didn’t see what West saw in him. “I’m Dr. Wells,” he confirmed.

“I always wanted to meet you,” West’s husband enthused. “Your thesis on string phenomenology was _mind-blowing_ —“

“Great,” Harrison said, cutting him off and climbing into the van. “And you are?”

“Oh! Barry. Barry Allen.” Allen held out his hand to shake, but Harrison took the laptop from him instead and squinted at the screen. “Oh yeah, I’m monitoring the warden’s dashboard for the meta dampeners, making sure that Zoom can’t hack in. He’s tried a couple things that I’ve been able to counteract from here, but—" 

“Good,” said Harrison, seating himself on an upside down bucket next to Allen with the laptop balanced on his knees. He was a bit too tall to be wedged into the back of a van like that, but beggars couldn’t be choosers when the greatest threat to Central City was attempting a mass jailbreak.

Allen watched breathlessly over his shoulder as Harrison bypassed the dashboard to open up the programming that managed the metahuman dampening technology. He checked through the code, making notes of areas where Zoom had attempted to modify the program. The attempt at hacking seemed professional, far beyond Zoom’s past capabilities.

“Someone’s helping Zoom hack into the system that controls the dampeners,” Harrison said, swearing. “Do you have a channel open directly to Detective West?”

“Iris?” Allen asked. “Oh yeah, let me pull her up.” He scrambled to put on a headset, still watching Harrison with his eyes wide. “Babe, do you read me? Dr. Wells says Zoom has a hacker with him who’s helping him break into the dampening program.” He listened for a moment and then handed the headset over to Harrison, who pulled it over his head.

“Wells,” Detective West said. “Did Barry say you think Zoom has a _hacker_ working for him too? He’s never had one of those before.”

Harrison was still scanning the code, watching as some of it changed before his eyes. “He has a hacker,” he confirmed. “And a good one. Whoever it is, they have to be present inside the prison – the firewalls around the prison’s systems are too strong to access it otherwise.”

“I’ll tell our team to keep an eye out,” West replied.

“I can repel a lot of this person’s attacks from here,” Harrison informed her. “But yes, it would be smart to take this person out as soon as possible.” As if to illustrate the point, the hacker made a change to the programming code that almost brought the entire system down at once. Harrison quickly countered it to keep the dampening field intact.

The next fifteen minutes were filled with the same back-and-forth – Zoom’s hacker would try something, Harrison would render it ineffective, and then there would be a momentary break while the hacker looked for a new angle of attack. Allen monitored the situation outside through his headset, reporting grimly that the tactical team that West had sent into the prison had been taken out by the metas even with the addition of Harrison’s modified cuffs.

“Did her team let her know if the cuffs worked?” he asked Allen as he again patched a weakness in the system.

Allen shook his head. “She didn’t get a chance to ask,” he said somberly. “Iris hates to lose people.” He looked like he was overwhelmed, and Harrison gritted his teeth to prevent himself from yelling at him. It wasn’t Allen’s fault that he was a soft touch, and Jesse had been trying to teach Harrison to be less mean to nice people – this was a good opportunity to practice that forbearance.

Just as Harrison was mentally patting himself on the back for not ripping Allen a new one, the van rocked unsteadily as it was struck with something. Harrison and Allen looked at one another, eyes wide. 

“That’s not good,” Harrison said, handing the laptop over to Allen and hefting his pulse gun. “I’m going to—" 

He didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence as the back doors were ripped from the van, exposing himself and Allen to blinding sunlight. Harrison shielded his eyes and fired his pulse gun into the maw, knowing anyone who would tear the doors off like that was not someone who was on his side. Before his vision could adjust, something _cold_ struck his ankles and rooted his feet into the ground with blocks of ice. Something else ripped away his pulse gun, sending it far from him. 

A moment later, his vision slowly returned to show a young woman standing in front of them. She was pretty, with wavy white hair and expressive eyes, and she looked pissed off.

“You’re causing Zoom a lot of trouble,” she said. Her voice had a strange reverberation to it, almost like it had gone through some sort of sound editing.

“Ah,” said Harrison. “You must be Killer Frost.”

Beside him, Allen whispered, “oh gosh” and whimpered.

“Harrison Wells,” Killer Frost purred. “How can Reverb take down the dampening field if you keep messing around with it?” She frowned at him.

Interesting. Reverb was the hacker - Harrison filed that information away for future use. 

“We can’t let you take down the dampening field,” Harrison told her instead.

Killer Frost laughed. “You’re not exactly in a position to stop me,” she said. “I know Zoom said to keep you alive, but I’m not feeling very charitable today.” Harrison watched a dagger of ice form in her palm, his pulse echoing in his ears. He hadn’t even texted Jesse to tell her he loved her.

“Don’t kill us, please, ma’am,” Allen begged. “We’re just doing our jobs.” Harrison told himself that there had to be something in Allen that made a tough, no-nonsense woman like Detective West marry him, but he personally didn’t see it.

“Well ‘your jobs’ are getting in the way of ‘our goals’,” Killer Frost told him, air quotes and all. She lazily twirled the dagger of ice in her hand. “I don’t know why Zoom and Reverb think you’d be useful. I could kill you so easily and you can’t even defend yourself.”

Harrison glanced longingly at his pulse gun, frozen to the wall of the van right behind the passenger seat, far outside his reach. How badly did he want to live? Was it worth telling Zoom how to take down the dampening field?

“What if I gave you the info to break the field?” Harrison asked. “Would you let us live?”

Killer Frost laughed. “Reverb will be through that in a few minutes now that we’ve taken care of tech support,” she said. “But nice try.” She walked up to Harrison and brushed his cheek with the tip of her ice dagger. The sting it left behind let him know it had drawn blood.

Outside the van, beyond Harrison’s line of sight, someone yelled. Killer Frost turned with a frown, glancing out, and whatever she saw clearly gave her pause. “What—“

A blast of some sort of energy hit her a moment later, throwing her against the side of the van and knocking her off of her feet.

To Harrison’s astonishment, _Cisco Ramon_ ran into view, hair pulled behind his head in a ponytail, wearing the Vibe goggles paired with black pants and a red shirt that nicely accentuated his hair.

“Ramon!” Harrison yelled before he could think about it.

Cisco smiled tiredly in his direction and turned his attention back to Killer Frost, who was pulling herself back to her feet. “Who’s this?” she asked, blinking at Cisco. She squinted at him. “Reverb?” 

The similarity hit Harrison all at once – _that_ was who Cisco had reminded him of, sans the eyeliner and the haughty expression. Cisco couldn’t be Reverb, could he? Reverb was inside hacking the program, and Killer Frost seemed confused, like she wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Leave him alone,” Cisco told her. “I don’t want to hurt you, Caitlin.”

“How do you know that name?!” Killer Frost demanded, her eyes flashing angrily. A maelstrom of snow and ice built up around her, fueled by her fury.

Harrison felt his shoe growing damp – he looked down to find Allen crouching by his side. Allen had plugged in a space heater, probably kept in the van for stakeouts during colder weather, and turned it on high next to Harrison’s right foot. “Shh,” Allen said. “Don’t let her see me. I’ll get you free, Dr. Wells.”

Maybe West had picked a good husband after all.

Killer Frost and Cisco circled one another outside the entrance of the van. Harrison felt dread pool in his stomach, hoping he wasn’t about to see Cisco gruesomely murdered in front of him.

He closed his eyes, hating the flood of feelings that went through him. Jesse was right. It had taken less than two weeks for him to fall head over heels for Cisco Ramon.

The ice around his right foot suddenly gave and he pulled it free, watching Allen shift the heater to his left foot. “Allen,” he hissed. “Can you get my rifle free?”

Allen glanced over at it and squirmed along the floor like he was emulating a worm until he reached the driver’s seat. The pulse gun was frozen to the back of the seat by its strap; Allen didn’t even bother trying to get the strap free, instead unclipping the gun completely and squirming back over to Harrison to hand the strapless gun to him.

“How did you know my name?” Killer Frost demanded. “Nobody has known that name for _years_.”

“Long story,” Cisco said, spreading his hands wide. “But you don’t have to be this way, Caitlin. I know deep inside you, there’s a sweet, caring woman who wants to do right by her friends.”

Killer Frost made a noise that sounded like the shriek of a banshee before shooting ice and snow at him from her hands. Cisco countered it with another one of the blasts from _his_ hands, the ones Harrison hadn’t known he could do.

Harrison told himself he could be transfixed by Cisco’s powers another time and steadied the pulse gun, aiming clearly at Killer Frost before firing.

The blast knocked Frost off her feet again, face first into the asphalt. Cisco looked over at him and grinned, and Harrison simultaneously pulled his other foot free of the melted ice. He jumped out of the van and walked over to Frost, keeping the gun pointed at her. Frost groaned and shook a bit, like she was trying to come back to her senses.

“Did Detective West give you any meta cuffs?” Harrison asked Cisco. _Where have you been?_ he wanted to ask. _Why haven’t you been answering my messages?_ Those questions could wait – for now, they were both alive, and that was all that mattered.

Cisco pulled off the goggles, storing them in his pocket. He was shooting Harrison the same shy, unsure looks that Harrison was sure were on his own face as well. “I haven’t seen her,” he said.

“Didn’t she call you?” Harrison asked, turning from Killer Frost to walk up to Cisco instead. “Allen, keep an eye on her!” he shouted.

“She’s pretty banged up,” Allen said from behind him. “I don’t think she’s going anywhere.”

Harrison stood right in front of Cisco, drinking him in and checking him over to make sure he was whole. 

“Detective West didn’t call me,” Cisco continued. “Harry, I _saw_ you. I saw Caitlin attack you and—“ He frowned, breaking eye contact to look away. “I couldn’t let her hurt you,” he whispered. “So I’m here.” He slowly raised his head to look directly at Harrison once more. 

Harrison swallowed hard, resisting the urge to get lost in those eyes. “You didn’t come back,” he found himself saying, horrified the moment the words left his mouth. This was _not_ the time. The sentiment hung between them, Cisco’s eyes filled with some emotion that Harrison couldn’t parse. He resisted the urge to step closer, to reach out and run his hand along that slightly-stubbled cheek.

“Harry, I—“ Cisco started. 

A crash sounded from the prison behind them, followed by a wailing siren, so loud it drowned out all other noise. Harrison swore – that meant Zoom had broken through the programming for the dampening system.

Sure enough, a moment later a flood of metahumans came pouring from the entrance to the prison, taking out anyone in their way with their various abilities. Harrison watched them take out an encampment of police and didn’t think – he grabbed Cisco by the hand, startled by the warmth of his palm, and dragged him through the parking lot to crouch behind the furthest car from the direct line of escape from the prison. Allen scurried along behind them, leaving Killer Frost alone. 

They watched the horde of metas flee past Frost, none of them stopping to help her. Harrison kept Cisco’s hand clutched in his, knowing he should have dropped it the moment they’d reached a hiding place but feeling anchored by the human contact. Cisco didn’t seem interested in letting go of Harrison’s hand, either; he watched the metas leaving, his face slack with horror.

After the horde passed, two more metas walked out of the chaos of the prison and straight up to Killer Frost. One of them was Reverb. The other man Harrison had never seen in person, but he knew him by reputation.

“Ronnie,” Cisco whispered beside him, pain evident in his voice.

“Well, well, well,” they heard Reverb say as he circled around Killer Frost. Deathstroke helped her to her feet, checking her over and kissing her on the forehead. “You did well, distracting Wells so that I could finish getting through the program. Where’d he go?”

Frost waved her arm. “Who cares?” she asked. “You wanted him to be kept alive anyway. He’s alive. Elsewhere. And he had help.”

“Did he?” Reverb said, his voice the kind of cold that Harrison used when he was trying not to lose his temper even though he was Not Happy. “The Flash?”

“A man, with powers like yours,” Frost told him. “He even looked like you.” 

Reverb went still as a statue. “Vibe,” he snarled, the name echoing across the parking lot. Cisco clutched at Harrison’s hand even harder. Harrison glanced over at him, but Cisco didn’t look at him, not taking his eyes off of the scene in front of them. “Don’t worry about him. I’ve known about him for awhile. I’ll take care of it.”

Reverb did something with his hands and a glowing blue whirlpool appeared beside him. Deathstroke and Killer Frost stepped into the middle of the portal, disappearing. Reverb glanced behind him, looking around the parking lot one more time before stepping through the breach himself. A moment later, it faded out of existence like it had never been.

“I think it’s safe,” Harrison whispered, starting to rise to his feet, but Cisco pulled him back down.

“Wait,” he murmured.

A moment later, a streak of blue lightning raced by them and disappeared into the night.

Zoom.

Harrison’s blood felt ice cold. “You knew he was coming, somehow,” he said.

“I don’t know,” Cisco said. “I don’t know how these powers work, I just _know_ things sometimes. The universe just tells me things. I knew he was coming, and today, I needed to stop Caitlin and those blasts just…happened.” He looked like he was two seconds away from a breakdown, still clutching Harrison’s hand. 

“I need to find my wife,” Allen said.

Harrison startled – he’d forgotten that he and Cisco weren’t the only two behind the car. Cisco made him myopic, made him _foolish_ , and he didn’t like it. Allen didn’t seem to care; he rose to his feet and ran over to the carnage that the metas had left in their way, yelling “Iris?”

Harrison turned to look at Cisco. “Are you okay, Ramon?” he asked. They were still holding hands. Somehow, it didn’t seem important to stop. 

“I don’t know,” Cisco replied. “No. I don’t think so.”

Harrison pulled him to his feet and led him over to the roadster, which was parked out of the way and unharmed by the events that had occurred. He opened the passenger door and gestured for Cisco to climb inside, finally releasing his hand.

Cisco blinked at him. “Where are we going?”

“Food,” was all Harrison said in reply. He stashed the pulse gun in the trunk and climbed into the driver’s seat. Cisco gave in and sat beside him, the color slowing coming back into his cheeks.

Harrison drove them to the nearest food spot, a 24-hour diner off the highway that served breakfast all day. He parked and got out, Cisco following him robotically as they walked in and were seated in a sunny booth in the corner with sparkling red cushions.

“Do you want to start talking or do you want me to start asking questions?” Harrison asked gruffly as Cisco stared down at the menu.

“Questions?” Cisco asked, finally looking up at him. His foot tapped a nervous staccato against the leg of the table, causing it to wobble slightly.

“Let’s start with the obvious one. Are you related to Reverb?”

The laugh that Cisco let out sounded a little strangled. “Define related,” he said. The waitress came by and brought them glasses of water, taking their orders. Cisco ordered a huge stack of pancakes, and Harrison was relieved that at least he still seemed to have his appetite.

“You’re obviously the ‘Vibe’ he was referring to,” Harrison deduced after the waitress had left. “He said he’s been watching you.” Harrison didn’t like the idea; he clenched his hand into a fist against the squeaky plastic of the booth seat.

“You can’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you,” Cisco said, finally looking up and meeting Harrison’s eyes. He was obviously scared, and Harrison tried to project his own trustworthiness, even though Jesse always told him it just made him seem shady.

“I won’t,” he promised.

“Not Detective West, not your shareholders, not Lex Luthor. You can’t tell _anyone_.”

He wondered at the fact that Cisco hadn’t yet realized the mountains that Harrison would move for him if he asked. “None of those people hold my loyalty like you do,” he said simply, and Cisco stared at him in surprise.

“You’ve known me for two weeks,” he said, and Harrison felt the tips of his ears flush hot. He’d given too much away again. 

“I—“ He didn’t even know how to justify his intensity. “It’s just—“

Thankfully, Cisco waved a hand to shut him up. “It’s fine. I’m just…surprised.” He licked his lips. “I feel the same way,” he said, like he hadn’t just shaken Harrison’s entire foundation with that statement. It felt like lightning was crackling in his palms.

“You do?” he asked, mouth dry.

Cisco nodded shyly before looking down at his water.

“I don’t even know where to start with this, so let me know if none of it makes sense.” He stopped momentarily as their waitress brought over some rolls. While he waited for Cisco to continue, Harrison picked up a roll, cut it in half, and spread butter across it.

“Reverb’s real name is Francisco Ramon,” Cisco said.

Harrison almost choked on the bite of roll that he’d just taken.

“Excuse me?” he asked once he’d chewed and swallowed. “That’s your name.”

Cisco nodded. “Surprise,” he said. “I’m Reverb.”

Harrison rolled his eyes. “You are not,” he countered. “You were both in the same place at once.”

“Maybe one of my super villain powers is that I can split myself between two places at once?” Cisco asked. “What if I’m the Dr. Jekyll to Reverb’s Mr. Hyde?”

Harrison didn’t understand the reference. “I don’t know who those people are,” he said. “And I’m not sure why you’re trying to mislead me by asking these ridiculous questions. You’re not Reverb, but you share a name with him.” He thought through the possible ramifications of that and sat up straighter. “Impossible,” he breathed. 

“In the flesh,” Cisco announced, spreading his arms wide unenthusiastically. “Ta-da! I’m a bona fide doppelganger.” He smiled weakly.

Harrison stared at him. “You’re from a parallel Earth?” he asked. He looked Cisco over like he was seeing him for the first time, but Cisco still looked exactly like he always had, too handsome for his own good, a smiling, warm-smelling person who drew Harrison in like a magnet.

Cisco nodded. “A year and a half ago, our S.T.A.R. Labs unveiled a new particle accelerator, but something went wrong and it exploded on the day we started it. I don’t know what happened, exactly.” He shrugged. “I worked for S.T.A.R. Labs on the accelerator project – everything should have gone as planned.” He shrugged, sheepishly. “I worked directly under our Dr. Wells, in fact.”

Harrison was startled by the flash of furious jealousy that overtook him. “Is _that_ what this is?!” he demanded before he could stop himself. “Were you—was he—“ He couldn’t even get the words out.

Cisco shook his head viciously. “No! No, it wasn’t—he was my mentor and my boss, dude.” He moved closer to Harrison, making sure Harrison was looking him straight in the eye. “He’s nothing like you, Harry.”

Harrison swallowed hard. The thing between them, huge and vast, sat unnamed but acknowledged for the first time. He wanted to run away and hide. He wanted to kiss Cisco senseless.

“Anyway,” Cisco continued, like he hadn’t just completely upended Harrison’s world, “when the accelerator exploded, something happened to me – you know those blue breach things that Reverb can call up? I ran into the accelerator to try to shut it down manually or at least minimize the blast. I managed to modify it so that it would go up instead of out, which _should_ have saved the rest of my team, but by that point I was trapped. A breach appeared near me just as I thought I was going to die in the explosion, and I was pulled through it. I woke up _here_.” He shook his head.

“Let me get this straight,” Harrison said with a choked voice. “A year and a half ago, you accidentally breached yourself into _my_ universe during a particle accelerator explosion.” Cisco nodded. “In that ensuing year and a half, you’ve somehow established yourself as CEO of an up-and-coming tech firm?”

Cisco smiled wryly at him. “I’m an engineering genius, Harry,” he said with a shrug, “and I have a whole catalogue of gadgets in my head that don’t exist on this Earth. Also, the American dream apparently works better here than it does on my Earth. I got the attention of the right people when I started recreating Earth-1 tech and selling it.”

“Earth-1,” Harrison repeated. “How do you know my Earth isn’t Earth-1?”

“I’m the one who hopped universes,” Cisco told him, “so I’m the one who gets to name them. Can we focus? I sold Earth-1 tech and patented the designs for it, which helped me build Ramon Industries surprisingly fast. I couldn’t get a real job here because I didn’t have any identification, family, or background – you try finding a job when you don’t even have a social security number. And of course, my doppelganger had a criminal record a mile long, so I couldn’t exactly steal his.”

“Okay,” said Harrison. “So now you’re on my Earth, and you want to, what, learn to fight Reverb and stop Zoom?" 

“I _want_ to go home,” Cisco said firmly, harsher than Harrison was expecting. “No offense, Harry, but this Zoom and Reverb stuff – it’s your universe’s issue to deal with. I’m happy to help while I’m here, but I want to train my powers so I can learn to make breaches. Reverb can do it, so it’s obviously something I’ll be able to do eventually.”

Harrison felt his heart sink. “So once you learn to breach…you’ll be leaving us?”

Cisco was quiet for a long moment. “Harry,” he said softly. “I was ripped away from my entire life. All of my friends on Earth-1 have completely different lives here. My boss acts like a pod person. My family is completely unapproachable, because they’re also Reverb’s family, and his brother is another metahuman criminal. I have _no one_ here. And worst of all, I don’t even know if any of them are even still alive. I _think_ I stopped the worst of the explosion right before I almost died, but…” He trailed off, staring at the table. “I’ve tried to vibe them all but it hasn’t worked.”

Harrison wanted to leap across the table, to declare that he was there for Cisco, but he knew how foolish that statement was. Who was he? He’d known Cisco for two weeks, just like Cisco had pointed out earlier. He could only imagine what it would be like, to be suddenly trapped, displaced in a foreign universe with no points of reference, no people in common, no friends. The thought of how lonely Cisco must have been over the past year was terrible.

“I understand,” Harrison said, trying to keep his voice emotionless. “You have to go home and find out what happened to them.” 

Cisco nodded miserably, and that was the moment that the waitress brought over their food.

Harrison had ordered soup, not feeling very hungry, and he watched Cisco begin to cut into his pancakes. “Don’t get me wrong – I care about this Earth too, and while I’m here, I’ll help you guys fight Reverb and Zoom.”

Harrison nodded. “It sounds like then we should keep figuring out how to train your powers,” he said, glad his voice hadn’t come out as wooden and hollow as he felt.

Cisco gave him a small smile and ate a bite of pancake. “That’s probably a good idea,” he said.

They continued to eat in silence until Harrison thought of another question. “What did you see? Last week?”

Cisco looked anywhere but at him. “What do you mean?”

Harrison stared at him until he cracked, sighing and slumping down into the booth.

“Harry, for a year and a half, my only goal here was to go home. Building up Ramon Industries, gaining money and contacts, learning to train my powers – it’s all been with one purpose.” He bit his bottom lip. “I was never supposed to meet _you_.”

Harrison’s heart was beating faster in his chest. “Cisco,” he said. “What did you see?”

Cisco froze. “You just called me Cisco.”

“I do know your name,” Harrison said fondly.

Cisco rolled his eyes and went back to eating his pancakes. Harrison watched him quietly as he sipped at his soup.

“We were on my Earth,” Cisco began. “And Zoom was there.” He frowned down at his plate.

“ _We_ were on your Earth?” Harrison asked, raising an eyebrow. “How do you know it wasn’t your own Dr. Wells?”

Cisco fixed him with a defiant look. “You two hold yourselves in completely different ways. It was definitely you. And I couldn’t take the risk…what if me meeting you is what brings Zoom to Earth-1?” He looked absolutely miserable. Harrison wanted to reach over and take his hand, but resisted the urge, letting Cisco have his space. “Harry, Earth-1 isn’t like here. We don’t have metahumans or speedsters. If Zoom wanted to take it, it’d be ripe for the picking.”

“This Earth didn’t have those things either, until recently,” Harrison told him. “Your Earth might be more similar than you think.”

Cisco narrowed his eyes at him. “You know something,” he said, forking a bite of pancake into his mouth. He chewed before pointing his fork in Harrison’s direction. “You know where the metahumans came from?”

Harrison glanced down at his soup, steam rising from the bowl. “We had a particle accelerator explosion as well,” he said, almost shocked as the words left his mouth. Why did he feel so safe around Cisco, dropping all of his secrets?

Cisco glanced at him, eyes wide.

“I haven’t heard anything about it,” he said.

Harrison smiled grimly. “That’s because it was a secret,” he said, gritting his teeth. “I built one underneath S.T.A.R. Labs, with a small team who all signed NDAs. I thought…” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “We were going to change the future of scientific thought. But instead, it exploded.”

Cisco snapped his fingers. “ _That’s_ why you’re so involved in the fight against the metahumans,” he said. “You created them!" 

Harrison didn’t look away from him. “Yes,” he said. “And it could have easily happened on your Earth as well.”

Cisco didn’t seem as angry about this revelation as Harrison would have guessed. He thoughtfully drowned his pancakes in more syrup, studying them as he methodically began to cut the remaining pieces into smaller sections.

“Now we both know each others’ secrets,” Harrison continued, feeling the need to break the silence between them. “Even Jesse doesn’t know. I’m responsible for Zoom, for Reverb, for _all_ of them. I created them. I’m going to stop them.”

“Not alone, Harry,” Cisco told him, _finally_ looking back up at him. “Not as long as I’m here. And the Flash, and Detective West.” He smiled. “We’re all going to stop them, together.”

“Unless you leave us,” Harrison said childishly. “If you learn how to breach, then we’re on our own.”

Cisco was quiet for a long moment. “I don’t know…that I’d leave right away.” He licked his lips. “Not anymore.”

Harrison’s heartbeat was loud in his ears. Cisco’s eyes were so wide and so dark. He’d run into Reverb countless times before meeting Cisco, and he’d never felt this magnetism, this connection – was it something about _this_ Cisco, _this_ version of Francisco Ramon? Cisco had admitted he hadn’t had such a connection with Harrison’s Earth-1 counterpart either. What was going on between the two of them? 

“I’m glad,” Harrison finally replied. “That you wouldn’t leave right away.” He glanced down to sip at his soup, feeling cut open, like his entire being was on display for Cisco to see the giant “ _Property of Cisco Ramon”_ that had been stamped on his heart the moment they’d locked eyes.

After Cisco finished his pancakes and Harrison paid the bill, he guided him back to his car. “It’s been a long day,” he said, “and you’ve discovered a new power. You should probably get some rest.”

“I probably should,” Cisco replied. “My car is back at Iron Heights. If you wouldn’t mind dropping me off there?”

Harrison didn’t. He pulled up next to an older, somewhat beat-up Toyota, smirking at Cisco. “Really?”

“Hey, I just made my first million a few months ago,” Cisco said defensively. “Sorry I didn’t immediately go out and buy a flashy car. I mostly use public transportation, anyway. It’s way better here than on my Earth.”

Harrison shook his head but couldn’t help the smile that was threatening to burst out. Cisco smiled back, his grin like the sun. Harrison stared into that grin, mesmerized. For a split second, sitting in his car in the middle of a parking lot next to piles of rubble cordoned off by police tape, Harrison thought that he was going to reach out and pull Cisco into a kiss.

Cisco opened the car door and got out, the smile never leaving his face. “Let’s meet tomorrow to keep working on my powers,” he said. “Have a good night, Harry.”

“Have a good night, Ramon,” Harrison replied. He watched him get into the Toyota and drive off, not letting him out of his sight until Cisco was off Iron Heights property and getting onto the highway to head back into Central City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on [tumblr](https://saucy-kate.tumblr.com/) for more ridiculousness. I'm hoping to get one more chapter out tomorrow before my ridiculous four-day event starts on Monday.


	5. Chapter 5

If Harrison was expecting things in his life to go back to normal after the revelation that Cisco was actually from a parallel dimension, he was sadly mistaken. Instead, Cisco’s previous standoffishness seemed to vanish overnight, and he spent the next four evenings with Harrison in the workshop deep in S.T.A.R. Labs, tinkering with the goggles and talking about his Earth.

“So the other Wells,” Harrison started as Cisco carefully unscrewed the casing on the goggles to line up the new plating that they’d developed. “You said we were nothing alike. How are we different?” 

Cisco shot him a smirk that was almost smug. “Jealous?”

“Of course not,” Harrison snapped immediately. “I’m not—I don’t—it wasn’t an important question. Who wouldn’t be interested in their doppelganger?” The tips of his ears felt warm again, a sure sign that he was blushing.

Cisco’s smile was sunny, like he wasn’t fooled at all by Harrison’s protests. “He doesn’t have as much of a temper,” he said after a moment. “He’s calm, although he can be biting at times. He has a bunch of young physicists and engineers under his wing who have benefited from him nudging their careers and is a pretty patient mentor. I was one of them.” 

The other Wells sounded like quite a stand-up guy. Harrison wondered why Cisco was so drawn to _him_ with such a saint in the running.

“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Cisco continued like he could read Harrison’s mind. “How did I end up liking the asshole version better?”

Harrison scowled at him. “Be careful with that casing,” he snapped. “If it cracks, we’ll have to remake it from scratch.”

“I know you like me too, dickweed,” Cisco replied. He stuck out the tip of his tongue while screwing in the casing. Harrison watched him, mesmerized.

The fourth evening, Harrison finally brought Cisco back over to the house for dinner. He hadn’t mentioned to Jesse that they’d gotten back into contact, so the delighted joy on her face was only superseded by the We’re Going to Talk About This looks that she shot in Harrison’s direction all night. Whatever, he wasn’t responsible for keeping his teenaged daughter in the know about his non-existent love life.

Jesse spent dinner quizzing Cisco about a new gadget that his company was advertising, with Cisco dutifully answering her questions. When he passed the salt, his fingertips briefly brushed Harrison’s.

That was also the night that Zoom attacked again.

“I don’t understand what he’s trying to accomplish,” Harrison said as they all sat in front of the TV in the family room, Jesse sipping on hot chocolate while Harrison and Cisco enjoyed some whiskey. “He just broke all of those metas out of Iron Heights. Why rob a few banks after that?”

“Dude, he’s building an army,” Cisco said with a snap of his fingers. “Gotta bankroll that shit so he can buy them some sweet gear.” Harrison had noticed that the more Cisco spent time with him, the more his language defaulted to a lot of slang, most of it somewhat incomprehensible. He hated to admit it, but he found it charming.

“So you’re saying that Zoom is robbing banks so that he can get money to outfit the metas he just broke out of Iron Heights?” Harrison said thoughtfully. “That’s not a bad guess.”

“Sound less impressed that I’m smart, would you?” Cisco told him, kicking him with one Star Wars-socked foot.

Harrison aimed a kick back half-heartedly. “What worries me is what he’s planning to do with this army,” he said.

As the weeks went by, Cisco’s training also progressed, albeit slowly. He managed to get a little more precision in shooting vibe blasts from his hands, although Harrison had to scare him with something to get him started. The visions still came in patches, hardly predictable.

“Sooooo,” Jesse said one morning as Harrison placed a bowl of cereal in front of her. She was dressed in leggings and a baggy sweatshirt, which Harrison understood was what the kids these days wore to their college courses, although he found it kind of horrifying. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Cisco, huh?”

Harrison sighed. “Jesse,” he said. “I know you want me to be happy. I know you want this to turn into some ridiculous movie where you suddenly end up with a young, fun, charismatic step-dad.” Wasn’t _that_ a thought – Harrison took a moment to savor the image of themselves as a family before he abruptly shoved it out of his mind. Cisco was from another universe, for god’s sake, and as soon as he figured out a way to return, he’d be leaving them all. There was no space in his future for Harrison or Jesse, and Harrison couldn’t ask that of him. “Ramon and I are just collaborating on the Zoom problem, that’s all.” 

“Yeah, I’ve watched you ‘collaborate’,” Jesse said with a smirk.

Harrison gave her a look. “Don’t you have a class to get to?” he asked.

“You just fed me breakfast and now you’re kicking me out?”

“Cisco Ramon is not going to be your stepdad, Jesse,” Harrison said firmly. “I can’t stop you from becoming friends with him—“

“You could stop it pretty easily by never bringing him to the house again,” Jesse said in a way that implied that she knew that would never ever happen. Harrison ignored her. 

“—but I can make sure you’re aware of where we stand so that you don’t get any…misplaced expectations.” Harrison stared her down with his arms crossed, trying to project parental authority. Unfortunately, that had stopped working around Jesse’s adolescence.

“Of course, Dad,” Jesse replied in a way that made it very clear that she’d heard every word he’d said and believed none of it. Harrison sighed. He was so transparent that even his own daughter saw how crazy he was for Cisco. It was embarrassing.

It was even more embarrassing because Cisco was also technically still a competitor.

The reminder came when the Department of the Interior rejected S.T.A.R. Labs’s proposal and awarded the contract to Ramon Industries instead. 

Lex Luthor immediately sent Harrison an email that said, ‘ _I thought you were taking care of the Ramon problem.’_

Harrison glared at his computer, not even sure how to respond. Cisco’s proposal had been forward-thinking and brilliant, and Harrison would have awarded the contract to him too. That was unfortunately not an answer that Luthor would accept.

Finally, he typed back, ‘ _I’m working on poaching Ramon and arranging for S.T.A.R. Labs to buy his company. His talent is too brilliant to waste.’_ That was diabolical enough that it should get Luthor off of his back while also being a blatant lie; Cisco loved his company and Harrison had no intention of trying to buy it.

He regaled Cisco with this story over dinner. “You’re cutthroat,” Cisco said, impressed. Jesse was out with friends that night so it was just the two of them, sharing looks over Chinese take-out and pretending they weren’t absolutely insane about each other. “I’m guessing this means I should play along, pretend I’m being wooed?”

Harrison’s heart pounded. “Are you not being wooed?” he asked, licking his lips.

The temperature in the room rose as Cisco watched him, his eyes half-lidded. He lifted a piece of chicken to his mouth with his chopsticks, never breaking eye contact with Harrison.

“I guess I am,” he said softly.

Despite the obvious shared attraction between the two of them, though, neither of them crossed that final line. Harrison didn’t want to start something only to have Cisco leave him, and he assumed Cisco’s reasoning was the same. So the long gazes and innuendo-filled conversations continued, to the point where Jesse rolled her eyes and left the room on a regular basis and probably texted long screeds to her friends about how annoying her dad was.

Then, there was Cisco’s metahuman activism and how it occasionally brought him head to head with Harrison’s public persona.

“They want me to _what_?” Harrison demanded.

Henry Hewitt frowned and checked his notepad again like he hoped it had changed its wording in the last 30 seconds. “’Central City in the Morning’ wants to feature you and Ramon debating solutions to the metahuman problem,” he repeated.

“Why on Earth would they want to do that?” Harrison asked. He knew immediately that Cisco was going to say yes to the ridiculous request. Cisco loved anything that started trouble, especially if it irritated Harrison.

“Mr. Ramon’s been writing a lot of blog posts about incarceration not being a good solution to the metahuman problem and how certain competitors of his have been throwing money at it,” Henry told him. “They’ve gotten the attention of a lot of local press, and it’s obvious that the competitor he’s been referring to is us.” There was a shrewd look in Henry Hewitt’s eyes as he watched Harrison – Harrison wondered suddenly if Hewitt was aware of his nightly workshop sessions with Cisco.

Harrison thought it over. His first instinct was to refuse, but Cisco would probably come by that evening and bring out the big eyes, and Harrison would end up folding. Why not surprise him and agree to do it anyway? “All right,” he said, and Henry looked up in shock. “I’ll appear on the program, but only if they get Ramon to do it too.” 

“Yes, sir, I’ll get back to them right away!” Henry told him, heading off as though he was going to do just that. Henry Hewitt deserved a raise, Harrison noted to himself, and a promotion to something more in-line with practically running S.T.A.R. Labs when Harrison was otherwise distracted.

‘ _you agreed to be on cc in the morning to debate with me???’_ Cisco sent him a few hours later. ‘ _I thought for sure we’d have to drag you into it kicking and screaming.'_  

Harrison scanned over the message, considering his reply. ‘ _I always enjoy proving you wrong in front of an audience, Ramon,’_ was what he eventually sent.

‘ _for the record, jesse doesn’t count as an audience and being right about which pans go in the dishwasher is still not something worth being proud of,’_ Cisco shot back. 

‘ _How fortunate for both of us that this will have a larger audience than Jesse, then,’_ Harrison countered.

Jesse sent him a text with a link to an article that was promoting the show a few hours later. ‘ _You agreed to go on TV??? Are you sure you’re my real father?’_ she asked.

‘ _Ramon knows my weaknesses,’_ Harrison lied.

‘ _You’re weak to his big eyes,’_ Jesse confirmed. ‘ _I disown you.’_

It was still better than Jesse realizing that Harrison had agreed with no prompting at all.

* * *

The night before they were due to be on ‘Central City in the Morning’, Cisco came over to dinner as he usually did once or twice a week at that point. He arrived at the house before Harrison was home from S.T.A.R. Labs, and Harrison found him and Jesse in the backyard, Cisco stripped down to a tank top and his dress pants and Jesse wearing a quite frankly terrifying clown mask.

Harrison stood on the deck and stared down at them, wondering at his life. Cisco’s arms shined in the late summer evening, his brown skin glistening with sweat from whatever game he and Jesse were playing. Harrison took a moment to compose himself.

Jesse ran off somewhere around the corner of the house, leaving Cisco alone in the yard. Harrison tore his eyes away from Cisco’s bare shoulders and called out, “Ramon, what on Earth are you doing?” before he felt totally like a creep.

Cisco turned around and grinned at him. “Jesse’s working on scaring me so that I can practice my vibe blasts.” He gestured at a target hung haphazardly up in one of the trees further back in the yard. “She says—“

At that moment, Jesse jumped out in the mask, yelling.

Cisco screamed very high pitched and a blast of pure energy came from his hands, not going anywhere near the target but definitely hitting the railing on the deck and sending it askew.

Harrison regarded them both levelly. 

“Oops,” said Cisco. “Obviously I still need practice?”

“Sorry, Dad!” Jesse said, removing the mask and smiling up at him. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” Harrison said, shaking his head – the blast hadn’t gone anywhere near him. “Come inside when you’re done, and try to avoid more property damage?” He headed back into the kitchen, hiding his smile.

Jesse and Cisco spent the next hour running around outside, their shouts and laughter echoing through the open window over the sink as Harrison rolled his sleeves back and finished preparing the stew he’d begun in the pressure cooker the night before. He tried to remain aloof to their friendship, but he was secretly pleased that the two of them got along so well.

By the time Harrison was putting bowls of stew on the table, Jesse and Cisco clambered up the deck stairs and flopped, exhausted, into chairs around the kitchen table. Cisco was even shinier with sweat than he had been when Harrison had first seen them that day, and Harrison quickly repressed the urge to lean down and run his tongue along the fine lines of his shoulder.

“How was training?” he asked instead.

“Oh you know,” said Jesse. “Cisco can’t hit the broad side of a barn.”

Cisco grinned at Jesse. “I think I’m starting to be able to call the blasts without an adrenaline rush first,” he said. “Muscle memory and all that.”

“I hope you’re going to burn that mask later,” Harrison told Jesse. 

She smirked at Cisco. “Dad doesn’t like clowns,” she said.

“Who _likes_ clowns?” Harrison demanded. “Wait, why do you have that mask in the first place?” Jesse gave him a serene smile, which didn’t fool him at all. Cisco reached over and high-fived her. Harrison crossed his arms over his chest and glared at both of them.

As they ate, Cisco kept glancing at him, almost like he was keeping an eye on him. It was a different sort of glance than their usual song and dance, and after the fifth time they made eye contact and Cisco looked away, Harrison finally demanded, “what? What is it?”

Cisco swallowed his mouthful of stew. “Are you ready for tomorrow?” he asked.

Harrison shrugged, not wanting to talk about it.

“You know,” Jesse said, “it’s a miracle you talked him into this. Dad _hates_ appearing on television unless he’s hosting his own press release and can control every aspect of it.”

“I didn’t—“ Cisco started, but he must have caught Harrison’s imploring look, because he stopped mid-sentence and licked his lips. “I can’t imagine why, shouldn’t you love being in the center of attention?”

“Center of attention?” Harrison asked. “Of the two of us, one of us plastered his name all over his company, and it was not me.”

“Oh, I’m 100% an attention whore,” Cisco said breezily. “But I think you secretly like it too.”

Harrison scowled at him.

“He does if it’s the right attention,” Jesse told him. They grinned at each other like they both knew exactly who the ‘right attention’ was. Together, they were an absolute menace.

Later that evening, the three of them migrated to the family room, with Jesse spreading herself out in her favorite beanbag chair on the floor while Cisco and Harrison took the couch. Cisco was still in his tank top and dress pants, and Harrison couldn’t stop darting glances towards him, overcome with the amount of bare skin present in his living room.

They had the news on in the background as Harrison did every evening, but they were mostly ignoring it for small talk, trying to figure out what else Cisco might be capable of with his powers.

“Breaking news,” the TV anchor said, frowning into the camera. “We’ve just had alerts of another Zoom attack, this time on a Central City warehouse owned by Rathaway Industries. Reporter Ralph Dibny has the story.”

They went quiet at once, turning to watch the TV with wide eyes. The newscast switched to the image of tall, handsome man, leaning over to fit his entire frame in the shot. “Approximately an hour ago, a Rathaway Industries warehouse near the port was attacked by known Zoom associates Reverb and Rupture. Most of the employees were able to escape unharmed, but one unidentified member of Rathaway Industries staff was killed in the attack. It’s unclear at the moment what exactly Zoom’s allies were targeting. Here with me is Hartley Rathaway, son of CEO Osgood Rathaway and current Chief Operations Officer at Rathaway Industries.”

The camera panned to a young man with short hair and circular glasses, an unhappy moue on his face.

“Mr. Rathaway,” the reporter continued, “what can you tell us about today’s attack?”

Beside Harrison, Cisco’s spine had gone straight as a board, and he stared at the TV like he’d seen a ghost. Harrison glanced at Rathaway – he’d met the father, but never the son – but didn’t know what Cisco was so freaked out about. “Do you know him?” he asked.

Cisco shook his head, but his cheeks were paler than usual, like all the blood had rushed from them, and his eyes darted to Jesse on the floor. It had something to do with his other Earth.

“This attack on my family’s company is unacceptable,” Rathaway was saying, a scowl on his face. “I hold both the Flash and CCPD personally accountable for this lapse in the security of this city. That these _terrorists_ are allowed free reign to rob the honest citizens of this city is a disgrace.” 

“He’s right,” Harrison said. “Garrick is less than useless. Where was he?” 

“The Flash did show up just as the attack was ending and had a scuffle with Reverb and Rupture, although neither metahuman was captured,” the reporter told Rathaway. “Reports suggest that had he not shown up when he did, there would have been even more damage to the warehouse.”

“By the time the Flash showed up, Reverb and Rupture had already stolen what they wanted from us,” Rathaway snarled. “A highly secret piece of proprietary technology. They’ve also stolen from other prominent Central City R&D firms such as S.T.A.R. Labs. This is an outrage. We are the backbone of Central City’s economy—“ 

“Thank you, Mr. Rathaway,” the reporter said smoothly, the camera panning back to his handsome smile. “Back to you, Jane?” The news report returned to the newsroom, where the anchor smiled at the camera as well. 

“CCPD has issued a statement saying that they were on the scene as quickly as possible and will soon capture these metahumans working with Zoom,” she went on to say.

Harrison quickly lost interest in the follow-up – it was mostly just spin and propaganda from CCPD at this point – and focused on Cisco, who still looked very shaken.

“This Zoom stuff is freaky,” Jesse said. “I’m going to get some ice cream.” She hopped up from the beanbag chair and headed into the kitchen, leaving Harrison and Cisco alone.

“You knew Rathaway?” Harrison asked the moment she was out of earshot. “On the other Earth?”

“He was this jerk I used to work with,” Cisco said with a wave of his hand, like it wasn’t important. “He left S.T.A.R. Labs months before the accelerator exploded, but he worked on it with us. I guess it’s good he wasn’t disowned by his family in this reality.” 

“His father’s a pain in my side sometimes,” Harrison told him, “but I’ve never dealt much with his son. He sounds a little…excitable…from that interview though.”

Cisco shrugged. “People on this Earth act nothing like their doppelgangers,” he said. “Who knows? We should talk to him, though. Find out what Reverb and Rupture stole from him." 

“If it’s proprietary Rathaway Industries tech, the last person he’s going to want to talk to us either of us,” Harrison pointed out. “Two of his rivals?”

“We’ll sign something,” Cisco said, hardly worried. “I’m not trying to creep on his tech, but we need to know Zoom’s plan and finding out what they stole will help with that.”

Harrison had to admit he was right. “Tomorrow,” he said. “We can swing by Rathaway Industries on our way back from the studio.”

“Speaking of the studio,” said Cisco, “I hear I had to talk you into this spot on ‘Central City in the Morning’ tomorrow? That’s the first I heard of it.” He smirked.

Harrison threw a pillow at him. “Shut up.”

Jesse returned with her ice cream and they went back to talking about nothing. After a few too many glasses of whiskey, Cisco fell asleep on their couch, and when Harrison tried to wake him, he waved him away crankily. Harrison decided to leave him alone and headed up to bed with Jesse, falling asleep with the enjoyable feeling of knowing Cisco was under the same roof.

* * *

Morning arrived before Harrison knew it, and after dressing himself in his favorite suit and open-collared white shirt, which Jesse always assured him made him look ‘dashing’, he made his way downstairs, excitedly thinking about eating breakfast across from Cisco.

The empty couch in his family room made him pause. “Ramon?” he asked, creeping into the kitchen. It was empty too, except for a note on the counter that read _‘Thanks for the couch! See u at the studio!_ ’ Harrison scowled at it, hoping it would make Cisco appear after all, but he checked the driveway and Cisco’s car was also gone.

Harrison sighed and roasted some bacon for himself, trying to reign in his disappointment. It made sense – Cisco would have wanted to get home in time to get ready for the talk show that morning. 

He arrived at the television station at the appointed time and was quickly hustled into a small room where a harried-looking woman with long black curls was directing staff for hair and make-up. Her minions seated Harrison in an uncomfortable chair and began to diligently cake mystery substances onto his face.

Harrison had been through the routine before, so he tried not to scowl too much and let them do as they wanted. A different minion came over and combed through his hair, blasting it with some sort of product before fluffing it into position.

“Wells,” said a woman’s voice behind him. Harrison turned his head as much as he could and caught a glimpse of their host, Lisa Snart, out of the corner of his eye. The mayor’s sister was a much beloved TV personality in Central City and used her smirks and sarcasm to her advantage. Harrison had always liked her despite himself. “I have to say, when we sent out the invitation, nobody expected you to actually accept it.”

Harrison found himself smiling despite himself. “Maybe I’m turning over a new leaf,” he suggested.

“We’ve sent you over twenty requests for an interview in the past two years,” Snart pointed out. “Why this one? Why now?”

“I’m concerned about the metahuman threat to our city, same as everyone else,” Harrison told her. The woman carefully putting make-up around his eyes pulled his head straight with a stern look.

“Well, this is certainly going to be interesting,” Snart said, walking around the chair so that she was fully in view. “I’m looking forward to meeting Ramon as well.” She licked her lips in a way that implied that she also had spent significant time stalking Cisco’s social media feeds.

Harrison changed his mind; he did not like her after all.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be that doesn’t involve hassling me when I’m trying to get ready?” Harrison asked.

Snart gave one of her trademark smirks, her perfectly-lipsticked mouth curling prettily. “You’re on in fifteen,” she said. “Marsha, add more blush to his look. He’s pale as a ghost.” The woman doing his makeup gave a nod, and Snart turned on her heel and was gone.

Fifteen minutes later, Harrison was seated in a huge couch on stage in front of a studio audience, Lisa Snart behind a desk beside him. Cisco was nowhere to be found. Snart began to run through the ropes with him.

“The way we decided to do this was to bring you in first as a normal interview, have you introduce yourself and explain your position. Ramon is backstage watching. Once you say your piece, for maximum drama, we’ll bring him on to counter your points. I hope you two can manage to remain civil while also giving the audience a good show?”

“How civil do you need us to be?” Harrison asked, gritting his teeth. He hated feeling like he was forced to put on a show.

“If you want to yell at each other, we won’t complain,” Snart smiled. “Standing up to make your point is okay. Throwing punches is not. Verbal barbs are better than physical ones.”

“This hardly seems like responsible journalism,” said Harrison. 

“Responsible journalism?” Snart laughed at him. “Honey, this show is all about ratings. If you don’t do something interesting, nobody watches. We’re about to start. Are you ready?” Ready as he’d ever be. Harrison glared out into the audience, and Snart leaned over with a laugh. “And maybe try to seem friendly, at least until Ramon comes on?”

Why had he agreed to participate in such a ridiculous farce? He hadn’t even gotten to see Cisco yet that morning, something he’d hoped would happen much sooner.

The cameraman made a motion that indicated that they were rolling, and Harrison tried to look less angry as he looked into the camera. Lisa Snart did her customary introduction of the program, the studio audience cheered, and then she introduced Harrison.

“Most of you are familiar with Harrison Wells, although he rarely gifts us with interviews. Today, he’s on our show to discuss the metahuman threat to our city and the best ways to combat that threat. Dr. Wells, what can you tell us about the work that you’ve done around metahumans?” 

“Thanks for having me on your program, Lisa,” Harrison said pleasantly, because even though he absolutely _hated_ it, he could put on a public face when necessary. “Ever since the metahumans appeared a little over a year ago, I’ve been concerned about what their powers mean for our city and the people who live here. As many of you know, I have a nineteen-year-old daughter, Jesse, and her wellbeing means everything to me. When the metahuman attacks began, CCPD was unprepared to deal with humans with such abilities. As the CEO of a company that serves as a thought leader in research and development, I realized that I could dedicate my company’s team of brilliant inventors and scientists to solve the problem. I have been helping CCPD capture and detain metahumans ever since.”

“Thank you, Dr. Wells. What do some of these methods of capture entail?”

“We’ve developed non-lethal weaponry that can be used to neutralize the powers of metahumans in the field, as well as dampening mechanisms that can render metas powerless once we have them in custody. Additionally, I serve as a consultant for CCPD whenever metas with new abilities appear; often, CCPD’s methods are tailored to certain types of metas that they’ve already encountered before. My scientists and I work round the clock to find ways to neutralize new powers as they’re discovered. We’re quite serious about keeping Central City safe.” He stretched his mouth into what he hoped would look like a smile.

“Your dampening technology was what was used until a few weeks ago to keep metahumans at Iron Heights, was it not?” Lisa Snart asked, flashing a dimple. “Do you have any information about the source of the failure of your technology that allowed 52 metahuman prisoners to escape?”

Harrison’s temper flashed, as she’d probably intended it would. “There was no _failure_ of my technology,” he said harshly. “Zoom is a menace to this city and the people in it, and as long as he goes unchecked, we can’t stop him. CCPD is afraid of him. My team has been working on developing anti-speedster mechanisms, but we are far from having any finished product ready. Until we can successfully find a way to neutralize Zoom, nobody in this city is truly safe. If you want to lay the blame for that Iron Heights breakout at the hands of someone, it’s Zoom. I do my best to combat the metahuman threat with my intellect and my incredible staff at S.T.A.R. Labs, but in the end, the rest of us are only human.” He gave a fake chuckle at his own stupid joke; he hoped Jesse wasn’t watching so she wouldn’t mock him later.

“And you feel like incarceration is the only option to metahumans that have committed crimes in this city?” Lisa Snart continued, unfazed by his ready defense of his technology. She was definitely trying to get a rise out of him. 

“I feel like we should treat metahumans who commit crimes no differently than regular humans who commit crimes. If you wake up one morning with the ability to breathe fire and you decide to rob a bank, you still decided to rob a bank. Your metahuman abilities didn’t make you want to become a criminal.” Harrison shrugged. 

“But what’s determined to be ‘criminal’ is totally in the eye of the beholder,” Cisco said from behind him; Harrison hadn’t even realized he’d been allowed onstage. He turned to look at him and his eyes widened.

If Harrison’s hair and make-up work had been perfunctory, Cisco’s had been utilized to best accentuate his handsomeness. His hair was long and glossy, falling in neat waves around his face. His eyes were lined with something that looked like kohl, driving home his true doppelganger nature with Reverb, but in Cisco, it just made his eyes look bigger, the brown deeper. Harrison couldn’t tear his gaze from him.

Cisco didn’t seem to notice how fixated Harrison was on him, thankfully. He walked over to the other side of the couch. “A metahuman loses control of her powers and accidentally sets fire to her workplace. Are we going to arrest her or are we going to find some way to help her gain control of her abilities?”

“As you can see,” Lisa Snart said with a smile and bat of her eyelashes, “we have a second special guest on our program. Cisco Ramon is the CEO of Ramon Industries and an outspoken metahuman activist on social media. Mr. Ramon, would you like to tell us more about why you’ve come to care so passionately about metahumans?”

Cisco sat himself on the couch, shooting Harrison a beaming smile that went straight to his gut. “Well, that’s simple,” he said. “I’m a metahuman.”

Harrison’s eyes widened. There was a series of gasps from the audience, and then a chorus of whispers began. Even Lisa Snart, who had a remark for everything, seemed taken aback by Cisco’s honesty.

Harrison tried to make eye contact with Cisco, wondering why _now_? Cisco wouldn’t meet his gaze, instead looking out at the audience. “I discovered my powers a little over a year ago, and it was terrifying. I didn’t have anyone I could turn to for help, and the only other metahumans I saw were all bad guys. I was really worried that my powers would turn me into a bad guy, too, y’know?” He shrugged. “But they didn’t. In the end, I made some good friends who have been helping me manage my powers,” and here he _finally_ made eye contact, very quickly, with Harrison, “and who accept me, and they’ve given me the strength to stand up here and be honest with all of you about who I am.” 

“Wow,” said Lisa Snart after a long moment of silence. “You’ve kept this meta thing pretty quiet. I had no idea that’s what you were hiding under that handsome face of yours.”

Harrison glared at her.

Cisco laughed, shooting a charismatic wink in her direction. “Very few people knew my secret before today, Lisa. But how can I ask other metas to step forward and learn to control their powers, even use them to do good, if I’m not willing to take the same risk?” He shot a look at Harrison that was so _fond_ that Harrison’s knees went weak. “Also, the premise of your show is flawed, because Harry feels the same way I do about training metahumans to use their powers.”

Harrison finally found his voice, shaking himself out of his stupor. “Right,” he said. “Only the actual criminals deserve to be treated like criminals.” Cisco beamed at him, and Harrison knew he was probably staring at him like a lovesick puppy in front of millions of viewers at home, but he couldn’t help himself.

Lisa Snart glanced between them, taking in the looks and the fact that Cisco had gotten away with calling Harrison ‘Harry’. Her eyebrows were practically to her hairline. 

“It’s not every day that we bring a pair of rival CEOs with completely different views on metahumans onto this show and find out they’re actually friends,” she said at last. “How did this come about?”

“Harry’s been helping me learn about my powers,” said Cisco. “He and his team of scientists are also dedicated to helping metahumans learn about themselves and developing technology that can help us control and manage our powers.”

Harrison really, _really_ hoped Henry wasn’t watching him on TV right now.

“The issue of metahumans, like most issues in the world, is far more complex than we give it credit for,” said Harrison. “I respect and appreciate Ramon’s passion for his cause, and together we want to create a world where metahumans like Zoom are off the streets while metahumans like Ramon can flourish and develop their skills. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for this.” He glanced fondly at Cisco, who caught his eye and winked. Harrison’s heart skipped a beat.

After the interview was finally over, Cisco followed Harrison backstage to the area where he’d left his things while being made up for TV. “That went well,” he said.

“You didn’t tell me you were going to admit you were a meta,” Harrison said, collecting his briefcase. He turned to glance at Cisco, who was studying the wall next to him. Other than them, the room was deserted, the make-up team having been diverted to somewhere else.

“I didn’t know I was going to do it,” Cisco admitted. “Until I was standing there, under those bright studio lights, and I saw you trying to stand up for a position you didn’t really believe in, not anymore.”

Harrison swallowed. “You know I’m still helping CCPD capture metas,” he said.

“Yes, but only the criminals,” Cisco quoted, and Harrison smiled despite himself. He walked closer and patted Cisco on the shoulder, allowing himself a small moment of contact. Cisco was warm even through the thick fabric of his well-tailored suit jacket.

“I’m proud of you,” Harrison said. “I hope nobody reacts badly to this.”

“Oh, I’m sure my board of directors and my investors have already written me angry emails and left voicemails,” Cisco said cheerfully. “But it was worth it.”

Harrison tried to imagine what it would be like at S.T.A.R. Labs if he’d come out as metahuman; the headache would be unbelievable. He definitely didn’t envy Cisco the fallout of this decision. 

They headed out to the parking lot together, getting some strange looks from the station staff. “Do you still want to try to track down Rathaway later today?” Harrison asked as he reached his car. Cisco leaned against the side of it, hands in his pockets.

“Definitely. Rathaway Industries isn’t too far from my apartment.” Cisco bit his lip like he was nervous. “You’ve invited me over for dinner so many times; maybe I could cook for you after we go over there?”

Cisco cooking dinner for Harrison at his apartment sounded far more like a date than most of the time they spent at Harrison’s house with Jesse, and Harrison knew he should say no, but he’d lost the ability to say no to Cisco nearly an hour after meeting him. “That sounds great,” he replied despite himself. They grinned at one another and a long moment passed, neither seeming to want to part. “I’ll see you this afternoon,” Harrison promised at last. 

“In just a few hours!” Cisco said with a laugh. “Hardly a long time at all.” He slowly turned to walk towards his car as though it was physically painful.

Harrison leaned over to catch him firmly on the back of his shoulders, shoving him gently forward. 

“Onward, Ramon,” he said with a smile. “You have board members to fight with.” 

Cisco groaned. “Don’t remind me.” He continued on to his own car with a spring in his step, stopping when he reached it to look back and toss a smile in Harrison’s direction. Harrison was still watching him go, a small smile on his own face as well. 

He shook his head and got into the car, heading back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come hang out with me on [tumblr](https://saucy-kate.tumblr.com/). Next chapter will be out after my event, so Thursday or Friday most likely!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter! Warning for excessive pining (although honestly this whole fic should have that warning).

Harrison met up with Cisco at Rathaway Industries later in the afternoon. The company was located in a large building in the waterfront district, with large glass windows overlooking the river. Neither Harrison nor Cisco had bothered to make an appointment with Rathaway – they weren’t acquainted enough to have any guarantee of getting in that day, so they figured they had a better chance asking in person when it was harder to say no.

“How are we going to get him to talk to us?” Harrison asked, leaning against his car with Cisco beside him. They gazed up at the building together, standing so close together that their pinkies were practically brushing.

“You’re Harrison Wells,” Cisco said. “Just channel your usual dickishness and march in there demanding to see Hartley.”

Harrison didn’t like that Cisco was on first-name basis with Rathaway, not at all. “’Hartley’?” he asked.

“I told you, we worked together on my Earth.” Cisco leaned his head back. The sky above them was wide and blue, the late summer heat starting to make Harrison slightly too warm in his suit. “Honestly, I hated the guy. He was arrogant and mean, and he hated me particularly because I stole Dr. Wells’ attention.”

Harrison’s eyes narrowed as they always did when his doppelganger came up. “He was jealous of you.”

“Who knows what Hartley’s problem was? He left in a flounce a few months before the particle accelerator exploded, and good riddance. I don’t know if I was too smart, too well-liked, or just too brown for him, but something about that guy set my teeth on edge.”

Harrison hated the look on Cisco’s face, and he leaned over and bumped him gently with one shoulder. “Try to remember that this Rathaway is his doppelganger,” Harrison suggested. “I know you wear your heart on your sleeve, but—“

“Hey!” Cisco bumped him back. “Not all of us can be giant jackasses 24/7 to hide the fact that we have human emotions, you know.”

A young woman dressed in a pencil skirt and sky-high heels walked by them to her car and did a double-take when she recognized either one or both of them.

“We should get going,” Harrison said, pushing off the car and walking towards the entrance of the building. Cisco followed at his heels as they went to the reception desk, which was manned by a bored-looking man in his forties reading what looked like a positively scandalous novel from the cover. He flicked his eyes up from the page to regard them steadily.

“Yes? Can I help you?" 

“I’m Harrison Wells from S.T.A.R. Labs and this is Cisco Ramon of Ramon Industries. We don’t have an appointment, but we need to speak to Hartley Rathaway at once. It’s regarding the break-in last night.”

The man’s eyes widened as he recognized Harrison. “Of course, Dr. Wells. I mean. Mr. Rathaway may not be available, but let me see what I can do.” He put down his bodice-ripper and hopped on the phone, calling what sounded like Rathaway’s assistant.

“You know, we might not be able to get in with him,” Cisco murmured.

“Then we’ll come back,” Harrison said.

The receptionist hung up with the assistant and made another call, this one to Rathaway himself. “Hi, Mr. Rathaway, this is Kevin at the front desk. Dr. Harrison Wells and an associate are here to speak with you; they say it’s urgent and regarding the attack last night.” 

Cisco mouthed ‘an associate’ and rolled his eyes.

“Kevin probably isn’t hip with the social media,” Harrison told him.

“Did you just say ‘hip with the social media?’” Cisco repeated.

“Never." 

“I’m so proud of you.”

Kevin hung up a moment later. “Mr. Rathaway is currently in a meeting, but he says he’s free to speak with you in twenty minutes, if you wouldn’t mind waiting? His assistant, Raisa, can come down to show you up to his office.”

“We don’t mind waiting,” Harrison confirmed.

“Thanks, Kevin,” said Cisco. “From one associate to another.”

Harrison rolled his eyes and put his hand on Cisco’s side to gently guide him away from the reception desk towards an exhibit on the history of flight. Cisco’s eyes widened, but he allowed himself to be herded until they stood in front of a display case showing historical models of dirigibles. Harrison dropped his hand, missing the warmth of Cisco’s side immediately. 

“I still can’t get over how steampunk this world is,” Cisco said, pointing at the airships in the display. “Who sees blimps next to airplanes and thinks, ‘yes, that is the better way?’”

“Your Earth doesn’t have airships?” Harrison asked. Cisco didn’t talk too much about the differences between their universes, and Harrison had no desire to ask; the fact that Cisco wasn’t _theirs_ , that he didn’t belong there, already tore at him enough without needing to rub salt in the wound.

Cisco shook his head. “We just have planes like the ones the military uses here. Most people travel via plane, not airship. It’s weird, honestly. I still can’t get used to it. My first time on an airship, I geeked out so much.”

“Interesting,” Harrison said. “It never occurred to me that our technologies would diverge to such an extent.” 

“There’re a lot of differences, actually,” Cisco told him. “You guys use more renewable energy sources and your cars look historical to me. You know how your TVs come in both horizontal and vertical? We just have the horizontal ones. We also don’t have bullet trains in America on my Earth, and the hyperloop is just a dream.” 

“Dr. Wells? Mr. Ramon?” a female voice asked behind them. They turned to see a pretty young woman in a pantsuit wearing a headscarf. “My name is Raisa; I run Mr. Rathaway’s lab and manage some of his office affairs. I can take you up to wait in his office while he finishes up his meeting?”

“That’d be great,” Cisco said with a grin, taking the reins with his personality and his charisma. Harrison was glad to let him do it. They followed Raisa into the elevator and up to the top floor, where she led them down a hallway and into an office filled with plush furniture. Harrison noted that Rathaway’s office couch looked much more comfortable than his own. 

“Please have a seat,” Raisa told them. “Mr. Rathaway will be with you shortly.” She left them alone with the door open, and Cisco seated himself on the couch, which sank plush beneath him.

“We’re just left alone in Rathaway’s office?” Harrison asked. “I would never do this. I could get on his computer and access all sorts of information in twenty minutes.”

“Please don’t,” Raisa’s voice rang out an intercom. “I really would hate to have to throw you out.”

Cisco laughed in surprise. “Ten to one she’s got a camera on this room too,” he said.

“I do,” Raisa confirmed through the speaker. 

Harrison sighed and sat next to Cisco on the couch, which was indeed much more comfortable than his own. Knowing that Raisa was listening, they couldn’t exactly continue their previous conversation. Luckily, Cisco seemed to have some backup small talk stored away. “Your daughter got me hooked on Big Brother.”

Harrison gave him a deadpan look. “No.”

“It’s trashy but also smart,” Cisco said defensively. “She sucked me in!”

“You have too brilliant a mind to rot it with that,” Harrison said, flashing back to saying the exact same words to Jesse at one point in time. 

“If Sergio doesn’t win, I’m going to be furious,” Cisco continued, grinning at him to make it clear that he was continuing on this topic just to irritate him.

“I don’t even know who that is,” Harrison told him, “and I don’t want to know.”

They spent the next few minutes sniping at each other affectionately about nothing important. Harrison briefly wondered what Raisa thought of their relationship, sure that the affection they held for each other shone through each word they spoke, but it didn’t bother him enough to try to tone it down. 

Rathaway breezed in about ten minutes after they’d arrived. “Wells,” he said, walking over and shaking his hand firmly. “Ramon. It’s a pleasure to meet both of you.” He seemed shockingly pleasant compared to the picture Cisco had painted of his doppelganger, smiling at them with one dimple showing. “I have to be honest, if I hadn’t seen your interview this morning, I don’t know if I would have made such an effort to fit you in to my schedule today, but I was very impressed.” 

Harrison blinked. “You were?” 

“Raisa, you can turn off the surveillance equipment,” Rathaway said to the air.

“Very good,” she replied through the speaker. Rathaway walked back over to his open office door and closed it carefully before joining them in the corner, seating himself in a chair perpendicular to their couch.

“I know you’re here about the robbery, and I get that, but,” he turned to make it clear he was speaking directly to Cisco, “ _thank you_ for being braver than I can be.”

Harrison blinked.

“You’re a metahuman too,” Cisco murmured, understanding immediately.

Rathaway tapped his ear. “Superhuman hearing,” he said. “I can tap into wavelengths and frequencies, although it also gives me tinnitus.”

Cisco eyed him warily, obviously not sure how to reconcile this friendly version of Rathaway with the man he’d hated so much in his own universe. “I feel vibrations,” he said. “Fabric of the universe and all that.”

“It was refreshing, to see someone on TV speaking up for us,” Rathaway said. “There are plenty of normal, non-evil people who gained these abilities as well, but you don’t see anyone talking about that, much less coming out and admitting they’re metahuman.” He smiled. “So what can I do for you two?”

Harrison was glad to change the subject, not sure how Rathaway felt about _him_ considering he’d been instrumental in a lot of the metahuman containment that had been going on in Central City. “We’ve been consulting with CCPD and the Flash on the Zoom problem,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out Zoom’s objective.”

“What did Zoom steal from Rathaway Industries last night?” Cisco asked. “We’re not here as your competitors, man. We’ll sign anything you need us to. We just want to stop him, and we can’t do that until we know what he wants.”

Rathaway regarded them for a moment. “My counsel, not to mention my father, are both going to be furious with me,” he said, “but I’ll tell you. Revealing to all of Central City that you’re a meta took integrity.” He smiled at them, kindly but with an edge of steel. “If I see either of your companies develop the same technology in the next five years, I’ll sue you for everything you have.”

“Deal, within reason,” Harrison said. “If it becomes industry standard, it’s hardly fair for you to have a monopoly just because you gave us information for an open investigation.”

“Should I get my counsel in here to draw up a contract?” Rathaway asked.

Cisco waved his hand at both of them. “Stop it. Nobody’s going to steal your technology. Harry’s just being difficult.”

Rathaway mouthed ‘Harry’ and looked at Harrison, who scowled at him. He glanced between the two of them and said, “ohhhhh.” 

“Can we focus, please?” Harrison demanded, irritated that everyone who spent more than five minutes with them figured out what was going on between them, especially when he and Cisco didn’t even really know. “What did Zoom steal?”

“It’s a CFL quark matter device,” Rathaway said after a long moment. “It can stabilize and enlarge wormholes in spacetime.”

Harrison and Cisco looked at one another.

“Wormholes between _dimensions?”_ Harrison clarified.

“Like, to a parallel universe?” Cisco added.

Rathaway regarded them, confused by their reactions. “Yes?” 

“That’s bad,” Cisco said. “That’s very bad. That’s _catastrophically_ bad. Harry, he’s trying to jump to other Earths.” 

“Hold on a minute,” said Rathaway. “The theory of parallel universes is unproven; we don’t even know if there are other Earths to jump to. Plus, he only stole the device to stabilize the wormholes; my R&D team is still working on a device that creates them, and that prototype is stored in a whole other facility. He doesn’t have what he needs.” 

“He has what he needs,” Harrison said grimly. “Reverb can create wormholes.”

“Seriously?” Rathaway looked blown away. “To other universes? God. The scientific discoveries he could have made if he hadn’t fallen to a life of crime.”

Cisco laughed awkwardly. “I know, right? Such potential, wasted on guyliner and a bad haircut.”

“Zoom breaks an army of metahumans out of Iron Heights and a week later steals a wormhole stabilizing device,” Harrison said. “He’s planning an invasion.”

All the color drained from Cisco’s face, leaving his dark skin looking slightly ashen. “An invasion. To which Earth?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Harrison said.

“I want to help you,” Rathaway broke in. Cisco and Harrison turned in unison to stare at him. “Stop Zoom, I mean. I built these…hold on.” He stood and walked over to a cabinet, which he opened to reveal a safe. He typed in a combination and withdrew a pair of what looked like gauntlets. “These emit sonic vibrations. I can use them in conjunction with my superhuman hearing.”

“We’re not building a superhero team—“ Harrison started, but Cisco held up a hand to quiet him.

“We could definitely use your help,” he said. Harrison scowled, not happy that another person was butting in on their project. “We’re working directly with Detective Iris West – I’ll reach out to her and have her connect you with a CCPD task force.”

“And the Flash?” Rathaway asked hopefully. “Do you think I could meet him?”

Harrison rolled his eyes. 

“I’m sure you will,” Cisco said. He opened his mouth to say more, but Rathaway’s phone burst to life in that moment, chirping away. 

“Hold on,” Rathaway said. “This is my partner.” He answered quickly. “Hey Dave, I—yes, my mother loves apple pie. That’d be great. Yeah. Yeah, see you tonight, love you.” He hung up again and smiled at them. “Dinner with my parents tonight, you know how it is." 

They left Rathaway Industries soon after, Cisco shaking his head as they walked back to Harrison’s car. “And I thought _you_ were a total pod person!”

“He’s that different?” Harrison asked, unlocking the car doors. “You live nearby and Ubered here, right? I’ll just drive us both back to your apartment.”

“Thanks,” Cisco said, climbing into the passenger seat. He rattled off his address quickly for Harry’s car’s GPS before he continued the conversation. “He’s that different. Dude, the Hartley I knew was a wannabe supervillain, filled with anger, disowned by his parents for being gay. This one seems happy and well-adjusted and has a _partner_ who goes to dinner with his family? Some doppelgangers get shafted, don’t they?”

Harrison was used to not understanding half of Cisco’s slang by now, but he could at least catch the gist of what Cisco was saying. “His parents disowned him for being gay?” he repeated. “What is this, the dark ages?”

“Look, some of the differences between Earth-1 and Earth-2 are social,” Cisco said. “Like, my parents have given me the cold shoulder ever since I told them I was bi. Things are changing, but for a lot of people on Earth-1, it’s not okay to be gay or whatever.” He shrugged uncomfortably. “Trust me. The culture shock when I got here was…a lot.” 

“It used to be like that here,” Harrison told him. “But that was years ago.”

“Trust me, I read all about it once I figured out the difference,” Cisco told him. “It’s crazy, to see firsthand how much a change like that affects the entire outcome of someone’s life. Hartley Rathaway? On my Earth, he’s a grade A raging asshole. Here, he’s nice.”

“You don’t know what caused him to turn out differently,” Harrison reminded him, starting his car and pulling out from the parking lot. “I’d like to remind you that I too am a ‘grade A raging asshole’ compared to my doppelganger.” He smirked at him. 

“I think that’s just your natural charm,” Cisco shot back.

The GPS led Harrison to a tall building by the waterfront, and Cisco directed him to park in the parking garage beneath the building, leaning over Harrison to swipe some sort of key fob at the entrance. Harrison held his breath as Cisco’s hair brushed up against his face, painfully aware of his own restless heartbeat. 

Once they were in the elevator, Cisco swiped the key fob again and pressed the button for the top floor. It ascended slowly, giving Harrison time to study Cisco in the mirrored interior without being completely obvious. There was something nervous about Cisco’s energy – he was bouncing slightly on his heels in his dress shoes, reading a notice the management company had put up in the elevator’s display case.

Finally, they reached the fifteenth floor and the elevator dinged to a stop. The golden doors opened onto a brightly lit, sprawling apartment filled with furniture that looked like it was ordered as a set directly out of a catalogue. If the décor hadn’t been surrounded by tons and tons of nerdy memorabilia, Harrison would have wondered if Cisco even lived there.

“You acquired this much crap in a year?” Harrison asked incredulously, walking around the apartment to look at the Wormhole X-treme figurines next to the enormous flatscreen television.

“Dude, I blew my first paycheck on this stuff,” Cisco said with a grin. “Your world has some of the same shows and movies but also some that are completely different. Do you know how much fun I had catching up? It’s not like I had any friends in this universe.”

Harrison studied the posters on the wall and wondered how much of it represented things that reminded him of home and how much was different. “It must have been lonely,” he said without really thinking. 

Silence answered him, and he turned to find Cisco watching him, the pain in his eyes heartbreakingly clear. “It still is,” he said softly. He shook himself as though to remind himself to change the subject. “Come here, I want to show you something.” He moved from the open-floor-plan living area through the giant, chrome-applianced kitchen to open a sliding door to a balcony.

Harrison followed him through the doors and stepped out onto a terrace with a spiral staircase climbing towards the roof. The balcony faced west towards the river, and there was already a rather spectacular sunset, the sky full of reds and blues. “I never could have lived somewhere like this,” Cisco murmured, leaning against the railing to look out at the river. “Not on my Earth. I didn’t have money, I didn’t have fame, I didn’t have a company. S.T.A.R. Labs paid me decently, but hardly enough for _this_.” He sighed. “Now I’m living the dream, right? But the price was higher than anyone should have to pay.”

Harrison watched him, suddenly realizing that something that day had made Cisco more fragile than usual. Was it seeing Rathaway? Telling the whole world he was a metahuman? Harrison stepped closer to him, wishing he could put his arm around him, comfort him. “You’re going to get back, Ramon,” he promised lowly instead. “We’re going to get you back.” 

Cisco shook his head. “Harry, I don’t even know what I’d be going back to. What if they’re all dead? What if the only Caitlin and Ronnie left in the world are evil? What if—" 

The pain in his voice quickly wore down Harrison’s resolve, and he put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing once, gently. “We live in an uncertain world, but judging by their metahuman counterparts, your friends are strong. I can’t promise that they’re still alive, but there’s no sense in thinking them dead until you know otherwise.”

Cisco curled his hands into fists, leaning against the smooth wood of the rail. “I know. And I tell myself that, every day.” He lowered his head and leaned into Harry's touch. “But I’m so scared.”

“We’re going to get you back, Cisco,” Harrison promised again, hardly noticing that he’d switched names, intimacy bleeding into the situation from all sides as he stroked his thumb comfortingly along Cisco’s shoulder. “With Jesse and I helping you learn how to use your powers, there’s no way you won’t get home.” He wasn’t very good at comforting people, and he felt keenly aware of his inadequacies as an emotional support, especially since it was likely he was all that Cisco had.

Cisco turned and threw his arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. “God, Harry,” he said, muffled against the soft silk of Harry’s shirt. “I don’t know what I’d do if I hadn’t met you.”

Harry wrapped his arms around Cisco’s back, allowing his hands to clutch Cisco’s sides as he hugged him back, his senses clouded by the scent of him. This was precisely why he couldn’t let this go further, he reminded himself. Cisco was leaving his Earth, and Harry couldn’t do that to himself again. He couldn’t do that to _Jesse_ again. 

After a few long moments clinging to each other, listening to each other’s breathing, Cisco finally stepped back onto his heels and released Harrison, blinking rapidly like he’d been tearing up. “Sorry, man,” he said with an awkward little laugh. “Sometimes this whole ‘displaced in another universe’ thing gets to me, you know?”

“Don’t worry about it, Ramon,” Harrison said somewhat gruffly, already missing the feeling of having Cisco pressed up against him. 

Cisco sighed and stared out at the river once again. Harrison didn’t like this quiet, angsty version of Cisco – it seemed very much at odds with the energetic, witty young man who he’d come to care about, although he knew from his marriage to Tess that it tended to be the upbeat people who felt the most deep down. That Cisco would also have a soft, sensitive side was hardly surprising.

After a long moment of silence, Cisco turned and said, “I was going to make you dinner, wasn’t I?”

“You don’t have to,” Harrison told him. “We can order takeout.” 

“No way, not after you’ve gone all Bobby Flay every time I’ve come over to your house.”

Harrison could see the tiredness in the sagging of his shoulders.

“Cisco,” he said again, liking the way that Cisco’s first name felt on his tongue. “We can get takeout.”

Cisco stared at him. “That’s not fair,” he said.

Harrison grinned. “What isn’t?”

“You. Saying my name like that. You never use my name.”

“So if I say your name, will you do as I say?” Harrison tried to keep the smirk off of his face, knowing Cisco was still in a vulnerable place, but falling into teasing flirtation was so easy and simple with the two of them that it was hard to avoid.

“Fine,” Cisco relented. “We can order takeout. But!” He pointed his finger right in Harry’s face. “No Big Belly Burger! There’s a delicious Thai place two doors down and I want drunken noodles.”

“Thai is fine,” Harrison said bemusedly, resisting the urge to bite the finger in front of him. Cisco grinned at him, even though the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, and headed back inside to grab his phone.

Later, they sat on Cisco’s couch eating Thai food out of takeout containers and watching Star Trek: The Voyage Home on Cisco’s huge television.

“How are we going to protect other Earths, _my_ Earth, from Zoom?” Cisco asked during the opening credits. Harrison glanced over at him, but Cisco wasn’t looking at him.

“You know, we’ve been working on finding ways to negate the speed force at S.T.A.R. Labs,” Harrison said thoughtfully. “We’ve hit a wall and we could use a new perspective on it. Why don’t you come by S.T.A.R. Labs tomorrow and I can show you what we’ve got?”

“You think stopping Zoom will stop any invasion force he’s put together?” Cisco asked.

Harrison nodded. “There’s no way the meta criminals he works with will remain cohesive once he’s gone. Cut off the head and the body will die.”

Cisco licked his lips thoughtfully. “Okay. Let’s check out what you’re working on tomorrow.”

As the night went on, they slumped closer and closer together on the couch, until Cisco pressed his knee up against Harry. That small point of contact took Harry’s breath away, and he found it difficult to continue to focus on the movie, itching to reach over and pull Cisco into his arms. 

The sheer terror of losing someone he was starting to care about so, so much was all that kept Harry from leaning over and pressing Cisco into the soft couch cushions and kissing him like he deserved to be kissed.

It didn’t matter. Cisco was still leaving him, leaving them all, and so Harry closed his eyes, tried to ignore the feeling of their knees pressed to one another, and balled his hands into fists to keep himself from reaching over.

He was going to do this. He was going to help Cisco get home and keep his sanity intact, even if it meant never knowing the feel of Cisco’s mouth, the sounds he would make, or the softness of his hair. He was stronger than his longing, than the electric fizz of desire that burned through him whenever Cisco was near. He would conquer this.

“Did you know they _remade_ the original series of Star Trek on my Earth?” Cisco asked, glancing over and grinning at him.

“They _what_?” Harry replied, aghast.

The ensuing discussion made it easy to stop worrying and enjoy Cisco’s company, even if it was just for a short while.

In the end, Harrison was still thankful that he’d been gifted Cisco, a temporary present from an alternate reality and a reminder that there were still people in the world who could make him feel as alive as Tess once did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Check me out on [tumblr](https://saucy-kate.tumblr.com/)!


	7. Chapter 7

Summer bled into fall, and Harrison and Cisco continued to work together to hone Cisco’s powers. Cisco still couldn’t seem to get his breaches to work – they’d tried everything at that point – and thus they were mostly stuck finding ways to protect Central City from Zoom attacks and consulting with CCPD and Garrick. Hartley Rathaway also joined their band of misfits and made an excellent superhero, using his super hearing and his sonic gloves to take out Zoom’s goons.

The fallout from Cisco’s announcement on television was mixed. One of his board members quit and there were whispers of boycotting his company, but in actuality, his level of celebrity rose and managed to drum up even more business for Ramon Industries. Harrison even managed to ignore Lex Luthor’s urgings for him to “strike while Ramon is vulnerable”, and Cisco bounced back stronger than ever.

Unfortunately, they didn’t get closer to stopping Zoom from creating stable breaches between universes, and despite long hours spent in S.T.A.R. Labs, pouring over the research from Harrison’s teams, developing a weapon to neutralize the speed force remained frustratingly out of reach. They were able to come up with the theoretical framework for such a device, but none of their experiments revealed the actual mechanism that would counteract the speed force.  Harrison was growing increasingly frustrated, feeling like there was a piece they were missing.

Everything changed when Garrick had his speed stolen. 

Harrison woke one morning to find six missed calls on his phone from Detective West. He quickly called her back before he even got out of bed.

“Wells,” she said without preamble, “something’s happened. We need you to come to down to the station.”

His first thought, like a drop of lead in his stomach, was Cisco. “Is Ramon okay?” he asked immediately.

The silence on the other end clearly communicated how out of left field his question was. “…he’s fine,” West said after clearing her throat. “I’m not calling about Ramon, although he’s here as well.”

Harry closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to calm his beating heart. Cisco was okay. Whatever had happened, he wasn’t receiving The Call. It was fine.

“I’ll be right in,” Harrison promised, pulling himself out of bed and over to the closet. West made a noise of approval and hung up. 

CCPD was bustling even for seven in the morning, and Harry was guided into a conference room on the second floor to find that he was the last one of their little group to arrive. West, Garrick, Rathaway, and Cisco sat around a conference table wearing grim expressions. Cisco was dressed in the black and red leather ensemble he’d created for his superheroing (Harry had daydreams about that ensemble that he’d never reveal to a soul) and had bags under his eyes. Garrick had the Flash suit on but was missing the helmet. Rathaway’s sonic gloves sat on the table at the side, and he was dressed in the suit that Cisco had made him as well. Clearly, they were all just in from a night of Zoom-fighting.

“Harry, there was an attack last night,” Cisco said, his mouth drawn into a grim line. “We went out to stop them as usual, and something happened." 

“Zoom stole my speed,” said Garrick, laying his hands flat on the table. 

Harrison stared at him. “Zoom _stole_ your _speed_?” he asked incredulously. “Is that even possible?”

“Ramon tells us you’ve been learning everything you can about the speed force in an attempt to stop Zoom,” Detective West said, leaning back in her chair. “I think that’s a question we have for you. How did he steal Garrick’s speed, and how do we get it back?”

“Without the Flash, this city is vulnerable,” Garrick said. “Zoom can have his run of it.”

“How exactly did Zoom steal your speed?” Harrison asked, seating himself at the table to Cisco’s right. Cisco tossed him a small smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Harrison knew he had to be terrified at what this new development meant for his own Earth.

Garrick sighed. “I don’t know.”

Immensely unhelpful, but typical of Garrick.

“We have to get his speed back,” Detective West said. “Without it, as Garrick said, this city is vulnerable. Ramon, your powers are useful but without a speedster, there’s no way we have even a hope of countering Zoom.” 

“Can you swing by S.T.A.R. Labs today so we can run some tests?” Harrison asked. Garrick raised a stubborn chin, clearly about to say no, but Harrison held up a hand to stop him. “I know you don’t like me. I don’t much like you either. But I’m the person who understands the speed force the best other than Zoom, and you need me.”

Garrick frowned, knowing it was true. “I can come by later,” he said sullenly. 

“Good,” said Harrison. He looked at Detective West, whose mouth was pressed into an unhappy frown. “We’ll fix this, West. I promise.”

“I just wish we knew what Zoom wanted,” West said. Harrison and Cisco exchanged looks; they’d kept the secret of Zoom’s plan between them, but perhaps with the loss of Jay’s powers, it was time to clue the rest of their team in.

“I think I know what he’s up to,” said Harrison, and all eyes shot to him. “The device he stole from Rathaway was designed to extend the opening of portals to other dimensions, other universes. We already know Reverb can create portals to other Earths, and we think that Zoom’s ultimate goal is to take over these other Earths. One world isn’t enough for him.”

West looked dumbfounded, while Rathaway was nodding along, and Garrick…Garrick was looking at Harrison with something akin to hunger, his eyes wide and dark. Harrison had never liked Garrick before, but something about the way he was looking at him made him feel unsettled.

“How could he possibly subjugate infinite universes?” West demanded. “He can barely hold down conquering this one.”

“He just took out our best defense,” Garrick said woefully. “I think he’s doing pretty well.” Whatever the shark-like expression had been on his face, it had already vanished back into vapidness.

“Get a grip,” Harrison snapped. “We’ll get your speed back, Garrick. Ramon and Rathaway can still defend Central City with you gone.” He considered for a moment – was it worth it to tell the group about his and Cisco’s latest idea? “And Ramon and I have been working on something that should be able to create a weapon that can counteract the effects of the speed force. It’s not anywhere near ready, but eventually—“

“Eventually we’ll be able to stop Zoom once and for all,” Cisco said proudly, pumping his fist in the air.

“At the risk of sounding overdramatic,” said West, “we need that weapon as soon as you can complete it.”

Harrison nodded. “We’re on it,” he said, Cisco nodding along with him out of the corner of his eye. Even though they’d hit a wall, they were both brilliant; there was no way they weren’t going to solve this problem and get it to work.

Harrison worked with Garrick to find a good time for him to swing by S.T.A.R. Labs later before leaving CCPD headquarters, Cisco on his heels.

“I don’t like this,” Harrison said as they walked out to the street. He’d parked on a side street, and Cisco naturally fell into step with him without either of them planning it. “Stealing Garrick’s speed is an escalation we weren’t expecting.”

“Zoom had to do something to retaliate against our super squad eventually,” Cisco disagreed.

“’Super squad’?” Harrison asked. “Really?”

“What else would you call it?” Cisco swung around to the passenger side of Harrison’s car and climbed in. Harrison got behind the wheel and turned to look at Cisco.

“Ramon, where are you going?”

Cisco blinked. Due to the small space of the car, their faces were closer than normal, and Cisco licking his lips drew Harrison’s gaze down to his mouth, suddenly hyperaware of their proximity. It was still early enough in the morning that the streets were quiet around them. “Can you drop me off at my place?” Cisco asked eventually. “I need to change before I head to the office.”

“Did you even sleep last night?” Harrison demanded as he put the car into drive and pulled out onto the empty street. “You need to get some rest.”

“I may not be running a company of the same size as S.T.A.R. Labs, but I’m sure you can imagine what my calendar for today looks like, Harry.” When Harrison reached a stoplight, Cisco pulled up his calendar on his phone and shoved it in Harrison’s face for illustration, the entire day cordoned off with pastel blocks. Harrison’s eye briefly caught that one of the blocks said “Harry” and covered the entire evening, and his stomach felt a jolt of happiness that Cisco specifically blocked off time for him. “I don’t have time to sleep today. I’ll nap in my office.” 

“You’re going to run yourself into the ground,” Harrison argued. “You can’t keep vigilanting all night and then immediately turn around and going to work.”

Cisco scowled at him. “Both of those things are important! Especially with Jay out of commission, I can’t stop being Vibe now. And my company is doing really good things, and more importantly, keeping me _alive_ and paying my bills while I’m stuck in this foreign world.”

“And what happens to that company when you leave us?!” Harrison asked, suddenly aware that he wasn’t really asking about Ramon Industries after all, even though he _had_ wondered about it. “What happens to all of your assets and your projects when you’re gone?” He gripped the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles went white. 

The car stopped at another light. Cisco was watching Harry, his face heartbreaking. “I was going to leave my shares to you,” he said, voice filled with earnestness, and Harrison was so startled that he missed the light changing. “Harry, it’s green,” he said just as the car behind Harrison started honking.

Harrison drove through the intersection and pulled the car over to the shoulder, turning to stare at Cisco, who blinked back at him, eyes wide. “You’re leaving your shares of Ramon Industries to me?” he asked, his voice catching. “As in, the version of Cisco Ramon who lives on this Earth will be dead?” 

Cisco frowned. “Well, once I get home—“

“Is that even your home anymore, Cisco?” Harrison asked. He knew his emotions were spilling out everywhere, but the thought of Cisco leaving that Earth for good – the thought of Cisco leaving _him_ for good – had been slowly driving him mad. “Can you really leave everything here for the rest of your life?”

Cisco stared at him, looking like he wanted to cry. Harrison realized his hands were shaking on the steering wheel; he slowly released it and Cisco reached over and took one of his hands. Harrison’s heart skipped a beat before it resumed thrumming steadily in his rib cage.

“Harry,” Cisco murmured.

Harrison looked away, not able to take in the expression on Cisco’s face, feeling his cheeks grow hot as his sudden burst of emotion dissipated like smoke. “I haven’t gotten much sleep either, and when West called, I thought it was because of you, and—“

Cisco leaned decisively across the gear shift and put one hand to the side of Harrison’s face, gently guiding him back to look at him. “Harry,” he said again, and then leaned up and captured Harrison’s mouth in a kiss.

To say Harrison wasn’t expecting to be kissed would have been an understatement; he immediately recoiled, his back hitting the door of the car. Cisco looked horrified. “Sorry!” he squeaked. “Sorry, I—“

But Harrison’s brain was already processing what had happened and realizing his mistake. He surged back towards Cisco, cutting off his apologies with his mouth, kissing him fiercely as he tangled a hand in his hair. Cisco gasped and kissed him back, slipping his tongue into his mouth and licking at him, practically climbing over the gearshift in an effort to get closer.

They kissed desperately, Harrison taking the time to map Cisco’s mouth, learn his taste and his smell and the feel of being against him. He’d promised not to do this, he’d promised himself he would never act on his desperate feelings for Cisco, but with Cisco so close, looking at him like that, and Harry was so _tired…_

Cisco broke away first, breathing heavily and licking at his lips as if he was chasing Harry’s taste. “Harry,” he gasped, his voice husky.

The moment Cisco pulled away, reality came flooding back; the honking of cars on the busy street nearby, the fact that they were still crammed in Harry’s car, pulled off to the side of the road. He could still taste Cisco in his mouth. 

“I shouldn’t have done that,” he said. 

Cisco shook his head. “No, you should have,” he said fervently. “You should have done that _weeks_ ago.”

Harrison leaned his forehead on the steering wheel. “You’re leaving,” he said flatly. “You’re leaving _me_.” 

“We don’t know when I’ll learn to breach,” Cisco told him, desperation in his voice. “It could be years from now.”

“So I’m supposed to get used to having you in my life for years and then you vanish?” Harrison calmed himself and put the car in drive again, putting on his blinker and slowly merging back into traffic. “I’ve already lost someone once, Ramon. I’m not doing that again. I’m not doing that to _Jesse_ again.”

Cisco was silent for the rest of the ride to his apartment. When Harrison finally pulled up to the double doors of his building, Cisco shot him a heartbreaking look. “Harry, I don’t _want_ to—“

“You need to get ready,” Harrison said. “You have a busy day ahead of you. I’ll see you tonight.”

Cisco nodded once, perfunctory. “See you tonight,” he said stiffly. He closed the passenger door with almost a slam before heading at a quick clip into his building, leaving Harrison smarting behind him.

Harrison waited a moment, watching the glass doors, framed with gold, before he pulled a U-turn and began his drive to S.T.A.R. Labs for the start of a long day.

* * *

Harrison was already in a rage by lunchtime, running over the events in the car earlier in his head and feeling more and more out of control. He wasn’t angry with Cisco – he knew it wasn’t Cisco’s fault that he wanted to go home, that he still felt like their Earth was foreign – but at the general unfairness of a universe that had brought Cisco to him, the first person he’d cared about since _Tess_ , and then taken him away from him again.

He angrily bit into a sandwich he’d procured from the S.T.A.R. Labs cafeteria, the news droning in the background on his office TV while he ate.

“The Arrow of Starling City, formerly known as The Hood, has been unmasked as billionaire Robert Queen. Robert was marooned on an island when his boat went down in the Pacific, an accident that ended with the tragic death of his son, Oliver,” the news was saying. Harrison rolled his eyes; Queen Consolidated had been making weapons similar to the Arrow’s for months now, and everyone in the industry had known Queen was the one behind the mask. “Robert Queen was thought dead when—“ 

The journalist on screen suddenly straightened his spine. “Excuse me, I’m receiving word. There has been an attack at Central City College.”

It took a few moments to sink in. Once Harrison’s brain processed the words, he gave the news his full attention, dropping his sandwich and rising to watch in horror, his heart pounding in his chest. “The science building was the focus of another metahuman attack. We are just receiving video.”

He already had his phone out, dialing Jesse.

“Hey Jesse, it’s Dad,” he said, hearing the catch in his voice and trying to swallow around the huge lump in his throat. Two scares like this in one day was _really_ not something he wanted to deal with. “I just, I saw on the news – just call me, all right? Let me know that you’re okay. That you weren’t—”

The news footage panned to the broken remains of the science building, a very familiar phone visible in the corner of the screen still with his picture on it. He felt his free hand fly to his mouth unbidden, horrified, and hung up the phone.

“Witnesses report that the Flash arrived on the scene, but not before the hostile metahuman escaped with a hostage, a female student. We have not yet IDed her, and there is no indication as to why she was specifically targeted…”

He exhaled sharply. “No,” he said out loud to the empty room. “No. Jesse!”

Zoom had Jesse.

Zoom had _Jesse_. 

If he’d already been at the edge of sanity before the news report, the thought of Jesse in the hands of that _monster_ shoved him boldly over the edge.

Before he could blink, he burst out of his office and into the elevator, practically stabbing the button to take him down into the cortex. In his private workshop, he grabbed a pulse gun and strapped it over his shoulder, not sure what he was going to attack or who he was going to fight, but knowing if he didn’t do _something_ , he was going to shake out of his skin.

His phone vibrated madly in his pocket. He checked it and saw that it was Detective West. He immediately stabbed ‘answer’ and put the phone to his ear, shaking like a leaf.

“Wells,” said West. “There’s been an attack on Central City College." 

“I saw the news report,” Harrison said shortly. _Please let her tell him Jesse was okay. Please let her tell him Jesse was okay._

“Zoom and his lackeys kidnapped a female college student,” West continued. She sighed. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but—“

“It was Jesse,” Harrison replied. “I figured.” He was already headed for the elevators again. “What else do you know? Where did he take her?”

“We’re still getting more information, but we’ll update you when we—“ Harrison snarled and hung up on her. The police were less than useless.

_Zoom had Jesse_.

Garrick. Garrick had shown up, even without his goddamn speed, and been useless as usual. Cisco and Rathaway had been at work, not in a position to easily deal with a Zoom attack. Could Zoom know the identities of the members of their little super squad? With Reverb working for him, it was more than likely.

_Zoom had Jesse_.

Harrison took the elevator back up to the lobby level and stalked out into the bright midday sun, scientists and visitors taking one look at his expression and the giant gun strapped to him and clearing out of his way, whispering madly. He pushed through the double doors and stalked to his car, tossing the pulse gun in the passenger seat. 

His phone vibrated madly in his pocket. He pulled it out again, hoping against hope that it was Jesse.

It was Cisco.

He answered. “What.” 

“Harry, have you spoken to Detective West?” Cisco sounded breathless.

“I’m going to kill him,” he growled into the phone. “I’m going to find him and superspeed or no, I’m going to wring his neck.”

“I’m going to take that as a yes.” There was a loud echoing noise around Cisco, like he was maybe in a stairwell. “Harry, don’t do anything rash. We have to—“

“Cisco,” Harrison said. “ _He. Has. Jesse._ I don’t even know if she’s still alive.”

The silence on the other end was too much to bear. Harrison started the car, the phone automatically connecting to his car’s Bluetooth system and putting Cisco on speaker as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“Are you driving?” Cisco asked at last. “Where are you going?”

Harrison stared brokenly at the road in front of him. “I don’t know,” he said, his voice cracking. 

“Okay,” Cisco said placatingly, like he was talking to a wild animal. “Harry, I want you to come here, okay? Come to Ramon Industries. I’ll try to vibe Jesse for you, find out where she is, and we’ll go get her back together. You’re not alone in this, Harry.”

That was good. A plan. Harrison turned left onto a main drag, headed towards Ramon Industries. “I’m coming to you,” he repeated, glad to have some steadiness with his mind raging like a storm. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll clear my calendar,” Cisco said. “Do you need to stay on the phone until you’re here?”

Harrison didn’t want to ask that of him, but the thought of being alone in the car with just the silence in his own head and the thought of Jesse with Zoom was unbearable. “I—just, I can’t—“ he said brokenly. He didn’t even know how to say it. He needed Cisco.

Cisco was able to translate his broken speech. “I’ll stay on with you,” he said. “Drive the speed limit. Breathe.”

Harrison glared at his car speakers as if they were a physical embodiment of Cisco. “I’m driving fine,” he growled.

“Of course you are,” Cisco told him. “What did Iris say?”

“She can’t do anything for me,” Harrison told him.

Cisco sighed so loudly that it echoed loudly in the car. “Ok, well I _also_ spoke with Iris, and she told me that they’d just identified the missing student as your daughter. The last anyone saw of Jesse, she was scared but unharmed, but they don’t have any leads about where Zoom could be keeping her.”

“Great,” Harrison ground out. He pulled to a rest at a red light, his leg shaking on the pedal as he waited for it to turn green again. It was taking too long to get to Cisco. It was taking too long, and Jesse could be dead.

He didn’t know how he was going to survive if Jesse was dead.

“If Zoom killed her—“ he croaked out.

“Harry, stop,” Cisco commanded. “The last anyone saw, Jesse was _alive_. You have to continue to believe that. If you start thinking the worst, you won’t be able to rescue her. Jesse needs you to believe that she’s okay. Can you do that?”

The light turned green. Harrison gunned the engine, glaring at the speakers again. “You’re barely out of undergrad,” he muttered. “Where did you get this wisdom?”

Cisco laughed shakily. “I don’t know, man,” he said. “Maybe I’m born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline.”

Harrison didn’t understand the reference. “Ramon,” he snapped. 

“Sorry,” Cisco said softly. “We’re going to rescue Jesse, Harry. She’s got you and I on her side. We’re an unstoppable team.”

A few minutes later, Harrison arrived at Ramon Industries, which was renting out the fourth floor of an office building a few miles outside of town. He left his pulse gun in the car and took the elevator up, still on the phone with Cisco, and as soon as he emerged into the lobby of Ramon Industries from the elevator, Cisco was running at him, skidding to a stop in front of him and wrapping him in a bear hug.

Harrison clung to him for a long moment, letting himself leech back some sanity from the smell of Cisco’s hair and the warmth of his body. Cisco leaned up on his tiptoes to press his forehead against Harrison’s, looking into his eyes.

“We’re going to find her,” he promised, voice calm and sure. “We’re going to save her.”

He finally pulled away, ignoring the Ramon Industries receptionist, who was gaping at both of them, and led Harrison back into the offices. Harrison barely took in the sights around him, still running on fumes and adrenaline, and when Cisco finally let him into his fancy corner office, which had a lovely view of the expressway, Harrison collapsed in the chair in front of his desk and held his head in his hands.

Cisco rubbed a hand comfortingly on his back. “Harry,” he murmured. “I’m going to get the goggles out and see if I can vibe Jesse off of you.”

Harrison nodded, otherwise not moving. He felt catatonic with both fury and fear. Even the usually-intoxicating presence of Cisco did nothing to dissipate the flight-or-fight mode that his brain had kicked into.

Cisco went to his bag and pulled out the goggles, putting them on and returning to Harrison’s side. He gently touched him once again, and thanks to their training, his vision came quickly – Harrison could tell since he gasped and straightened.

“What are you seeing?” he demanded, finally looking up at Cisco for the first time since he’d entered the room.

“She’s…locked up,” Cisco said, speaking softly. “She’s in some dark place – I think it’s Zoom’s lair.”

“She’s alive?” Harrison felt hot tears in his eyes, relief inside of him. “She’s not dead?”

Cisco nodded. “She’s alive, Harry,” he said. “And she’s _pissed_. She’s yelling at Zoom but he doesn’t seem to be around." 

Harrison rubbed the tears from his eyes, trying not to openly weep in front of Cisco. “We’ve got to rescue her. How are we going to rescue her?”

“I can’t see anything identifiable about where she is,” Cisco continued. “It looks like a cave. It could be anywhere.” He frowned. “We’re going to have to trace her by other means.” He pulled off the goggles and his eyes refocused on Harrison again, obviously taking in the watering of his eyes. “Harry,” he said softly, pulling him against him into a side hug. “Harry, she’s _alive_.”

Harrison nodded blankly, still tearing up.

“Here,” Cisco whispered, pulling away. “I’m going to go out and grab some coffee and food, and I’ll be back in a minute. Then we’ll start trying to vibe Zoom’s known associates.” He paused for a moment, as if he was hesitating, but finally he leaned in and pressed a warm kiss against Harrison’s forehead before rising back to his feet and heading out the door.

Harrison continued to stare at the desk in front of him, unseeing, as finally being alone allowed him the space to cry.

Cisco returned with a wrap and coffee, placing it on his desk in front of Harrison.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Have you eaten anything today?” Cisco asked, and Harrison thought guiltily of the lunch he’d abandoned in his office. “You need to keep up your strength, Harry. What if you don’t eat and then you collapse in the middle of fighting Zoom?”

Harrison sighed and took half of the wrap, biting into it and chewing mechanically without really tasting what was in it. “There,” he said. “I ate.”

Cisco sighed.

Harrison’s cell phone began to vibrate again. He checked the screen and saw that it was from an unknown number. “I think the press just found out Jesse was taken,” he snarled, tossing his phone on Cisco’s desk, where it vibrated against the wood loudly.

Cisco calmly reached over and intercepted the phone, bringing it to his ear and answering, “Harrison Wells’ phone, Dr. Wells is not available.” He paused for a moment. Licked his lips. “Hello, Reverb.”

Harrison was on his feet in a flash, snatching his phone back from Cisco. “Where is she?!” he snarled into it.

“Hello, Dr. Wells,” Reverb’s snooty voice came through the phone. It was remarkable how he managed to sound nothing like Cisco. “How have you been? I hear your day’s been a little rough…”

“Reverb, if you don’t tell me where my daughter is _right now_ , I will find you, and I will take my pulse gun and fire it clear through your head before you can create a portal.”

“Okay, he’s still me,” Cisco said from beside him. “Can we not have grisly death fantasies about my doppelganger? It’s hot but in kind of a creepy way.”

Harrison waved at him to be quiet. “Scary, Dr. Wells,” Reverb practically purred. “If you want to see your daughter alive ever again, though, it’s in your best interest not to murder me on sight. Meet me tonight at Pier 7 down by the waterfront at 10pm. Bring Francisco if you would like, but no one else or the deal is off. My boss wants to speak to you.”

Harrison snatched a pen off of Cisco’s desk and jotted on a post-it “Pier 7, 10pm, just the two of us”. He showed it to Cisco, who nodded.

“We’ll know if you tell Detective West, Jay Garrick, or Hartley Rathaway,” Reverb continued. Harrison’s blood ran cold; Zoom _did_ know the identities of their little super squad. “So I suggest if you want to see your precious daughter alive ever again, you won’t tell any of them about our little meeting.”

“Please don’t hurt her,” Harrison said, astonished to hear himself begging. “She’s done nothing to you. It’s me you’re after, it’s me you want—“

“See you tonight, Dr. Wells,” Reverb said, and then he hung up, leaving Harrison staring at his phone with blank, empty eyes.

“Damn it!” he cursed, throwing his phone across the room. It landed with a crash against the opposing wall, falling to the floor. Harrison didn’t even care that he might have shattered it.

“He told you to bring me?” Cisco asked after a moment, his voice soft and full of sympathy.

Harrison massaged his temples. “He said I could if I wanted to.” He glanced at the clock on the wall – it was just after two in the afternoon. “How am I going to wait until ten tonight?” he asked, hating how defeated and tired he sounded. He couldn’t go back to his house, not to find it empty of Jesse and know, _know_ that Zoom had her— 

“C’mon,” said Cisco, grabbing a backpack from under his desk. “Let’s go. Bring your food. Give me your car keys.” Harrison blinked and handed over his car keys in surprise. Cisco walked over to the other side of the room and picked Harrison’s phone off the floor, flipping it over and dusting it off against his shirt. “You didn’t even shatter it,” he said, putting it in his pocket and looking at Harrison expectedly.

Harrison caught on slowly, picking up the wrap and the to-go cup of coffee and trailing after Cisco, who led him back through the offices and onto the elevator to the parking garage. Getting to Harrison’s car, he opened the passenger side door and removed the pulse gun with a small smile, stowing it in the trunk with his backpack before he shooed Harrison in. Harrison glanced over as Cisco climbed into the driver’s side and adjusted the seat to fit his much shorter legs.

“What are you doing?” he asked as Cisco tried to figure out how to adjust the seat so that he could see better.

“We’re going back to my place,” Cisco said. “You need to get some sleep, and you can’t go home like this, not by yourself.” He swiped the automatic key against the pad and pressed the engine button; the car roared to life underneath them.

Cisco drove them carefully back to his apartment, helping Harry up the elevator and back into his penthouse apartment. He took the pulse gun and his backpack and left them on the kitchen counter before guiding Harrison to the bedroom, one hand on the small of his back. Harrison let himself be led, appreciating that he didn’t have to think or make decisions.

Cisco led him to his unmade bed and pushed Harry down to sit before kneeling in front of him. Harrison thought dully about how many fantasies he’d had about Cisco kneeling in front of him, but he couldn’t even enjoy the sight, not with his head so full of _Zoom has Jesse_ , a loop on repeat. Cisco began to untie his shoes and gently removed them from each foot before directing him horizontal.

Cisco fumbled with his belt and removed it with a wry grin. “I’ve imagined you in my bed many times,” he said, an echo of Harrison’s own sentiment, “but not quite in these circumstances.”

“You need to sleep too,” Harrison said as he laid back against Cisco’s insanely comfortable pillow, unable to respond to Cisco’s innuendo. “You didn’t sleep last night, you were—.” Fighting Zoom, he didn’t say. 

Cisco regarded him for a long moment. “Okay,” he said finally, taking off his own shoes and tossing his sport coat over a chair that was covered with similar jackets. He unthreaded his own belt from his work pants and kicked them off until he was in just his boxers before he walked over to the other side of the bed and crawled in, immediately wrapping himself around Harry like a protective cat.

Harrison didn’t think he’d be able to sleep, not with his mind frozen and his heart racing on adrenaline. To his surprise, the warm of Cisco against his back and the feeling of Cisco’s hand carding through his hair lulled him to sleep faster than he thought, and soon he fell into a restless, dreamless slumber.

* * *

They prepared for their meeting with Reverb and Zoom as though preparing for war.

After waking later in the evening, Harry drove himself and Cisco back to S.T.A.R. Labs to change out of his suit into the all-black ensemble he kept on hand in case he’d need to fight. He brought Cisco to his secret room deep in the cortex and gathered all of his prototype weapons, including the metahuman-sensing watch, shoving them into a thick black backpack before strapping the pulse gun back around him. Cisco glanced around them, his eyes wide. 

“You have a secret weapons vault in here?” he asked.

“I’m a known enemy of Zoom,” Harrison replied. “Of course I have a secret weapons vault.”

Cisco had dressed himself in his superheroing getup, the goggles in one pocket. He, too, carried a backpack, although Harrison was aware that it was filled with water, snacks, a change of clothes, and a stun gun, not heavy transdimensional weaponry.

As their meeting time neared, they drove back to Cisco’s apartment to drop off Harry’s car before heading to Pier 7, which was only a ten-minute walk from Cisco’s building. 

They arrived at the deserted pier five minutes early. It was completely empty, the river in the background the only sound. Pier 7 had once served as part of the port for Central City’s vigorous shipping industry, but the river had stopped being used as much for shipping these days, and most of the old port was abandoned or sold to make way for fancy condo buildings like the one that Cisco lived in. 

At precisely ten on the dot, a glowing blue breach appeared right at the center of the pier. A moment later, Reverb stepped out in front of them, his hair up in a ponytail, goggles on his face, and wearing an ensemble that had quite a bit of purple to it. Cisco was also partial to purple, and Harrison couldn’t help but glance over at him.

It was his first time seeing both Cisco and Reverb in the same place, knowing who they both were. It was disconcerting, seeing them next to one another; they had the same stature, the same build, the same face. Reverb smiled at them and removed his goggles, stowing them in his pocket very similar to the way that Cisco had done earlier. His eyes were accentuated with kohl, making him look slightly older, but otherwise he was the same as the Cisco that Harry was so used to.

Cisco and Reverb studied one another for a moment before Harry found his voice. “Where. Is. My. Daughter?” he demanded, stepping right in Reverb’s face and pointing the pulse gun at his heart. 

“Wells,” Reverb said, stepping back and putting his hands up, “you should calm down. Your daughter is fine.” He grinned and spread his arms wide. “Or at least she will be, if you do as my boss says."

“What does Zoom want from me?” Harrison demanded, not taking the pulse gun off of Reverb.

“Ah, I think that’s for him to tell you,” Reverb said, circling around them with a grin.

To Harrison’s surprise, Cisco stepped forward so that he was nose to nose with Reverb and frowned expressively. “Why are you working with Zoom, Reverb?”

“Because I have the power of a god,” Reverb told him, leaning in close to whisper in his ear. “As do you, Francisco,” he added, so softly that Harrison barely caught the words.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cisco said, pulling away so that Reverb wasn’t so close to him. “I see visions and I can occasionally shoot vibrations from my hands. I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty cool, but it’s not _godlike_.”

“You’re practically an infant,” Reverb said with a laugh. “You have no idea what we are capable of. I could teach you how to be stronger." 

“I’m not interested in anything you have to offer me,” Cisco said coldly. “I don’t understand why you’re so willing to work with a madman, a murderer, why you can so easily hurt people. You’re _me_." 

“There’s still time,” Reverb said in a low tone. “You can join me. Together, we can take Zoom. We’re strong enough, even with your powers untrained. We take Zoom out, that’ll keep Wells safe enough – I have no beef with him if he leaves me alone, and you and I can rule this Earth together.”

“Are you seriously Darth Vader at Cloud City-ing me right now?” Cisco asked. “’Join me and together we can rule the galaxy?’ Do you even hear yourself?”

“Zoom’s going to kill him,” Reverb said, pointing at Harrison. Harrison didn’t even care – the only thing that mattered was Jesse. “He’s going to murder him right in front of you. Do you want to see that, Francisco? Don’t you want to save the man you love?”

Harrison had been on the receiving end of Cisco’s death glare more than he could count, but the glare Cisco leveled at Reverb was a whole other level. Harrison had been aware of how Cisco felt about him, how they felt about each other, but it was the first time anyone had spoken it out loud, and it echoed through his mind. _The man you love._

_“_ Oh, you think I don’t know? You think there’s anyone left in Central City that doesn’t know? You shouldn’t go on television and look at each other like that if you don’t want everyone to figure it out. The only reason you weren’t the one who Zoom kidnapped is because we thought it’d be too much trouble to nullify your powers. Jesse Wells was an easier target.”

“Enough,” Harrison said, his fingers curling with rage that they’d targeted Jesse specifically because she didn’t have the ability to fight back. “We’re here to save Jesse. There’s no point in making a deal with us for world domination that doesn’t include saving her.”

Cisco shot him an appalled look.

“I wasn’t talking to you, _Wells_ ,” Reverb said snidely.

“I have no interest in world domination,” Cisco told them both. “I just want to go home.”

“And if joining forces with Reverb to fight Zoom can save my daughter?” Harrison demanded, hearing his voice go unsteady. “Are you still not interested?”

“So that’s it, Harry? You’re willing to watch the world burn as long as Jesse’s safe?” Cisco demanded. “We’re going to save her, and we’re going to find a way to do it without selling either of our souls.” Harrison looked away from the hurt look on his face.

“I think—“

A gust of wind blew around them, blue lightning flashing and highlighting Cisco and Reverb’s twin faces. “Thinking, Wells?” a gravelly voice asked in his ear, almost a growl. “Sounds dangerous.” Before Harrison could react, he was whisked away in a flash of blue and shoved against the wall of a shipping container, Zoom in front of him, Cisco’s yell of his name echoing in the distance. They were somewhere close to Pier 7, but far enough away that Cisco and Reverb were out of sight.

“Let Jesse go,” Harrison growled, spitting blood from his mouth in Zoom’s direction; he’d bitten his lip on the impact.

“Now why would I do that?” Zoom practically purred, looming ominously in front of Harrison, gripping one clawed hand around his throat. Harrison gasped, his supply of air less plentiful. “I have no reason to let Jesse go until you do something for me.”

“What do you want from me?” Harrison choked out. “I’ll do anything. Please. Don’t hurt her.” The pulse gun was a useless shape pressing into his left kidney; he couldn’t even reach it to fire. He’d never felt so helpless in his life.

“You agree to help me?” Zoom asked, loosening his grip on Harrison. Harrison nodded weakly, and he was whisked back to be dropped in a heap in front of Cisco and Reverb. Cisco shouted and ran to his side, helping him up.

“Aren’t they precious?” Reverb cooed.

“Shut up.” Cisco shot him a glare as he supported Harry, one arm around his waist, pressing his body against his. Harrison took brief comfort in his warmth and tried to stand up straight to look Zoom in the mask, a nightmare in the flesh.

“There is another Flash,” Zoom said. “And you’re going to steal his speed for me.”

Cisco and Harrison glanced at one another. “I’ve never heard of another Flash,” Harrison said. “If there was another speedster in Central City, I think we’d know about it by now.”

“Oh, he’s not in _this_ Central City,” Zoom said, his demonic voice almost gleeful.

“Francisco, I hope you’re ready to go home,” Reverb added. “Because you’re about to make a one-way trip.”

Cisco’s grip around Harrison tightened. “There’s a Flash on my Earth?”

“There’s a Flash on your Earth,” Zoom confirmed. “And you two are going to steal his speed for me. Once you’ve drained him of the speed force, I’ll let Jesse Wells free.”

Presumably so that he could begin his invasion of Cisco’s Earth; a deal with the devil, indeed. “Done,” said Harrison immediately.

“Did you remember what I said about not selling our souls?” Cisco hissed at him. “You can’t make decisions like that for both of us.”

“I just did.” Harrison glared at Zoom. “This decision of mine is going to get you home. Isn’t that what you wanted?” He knew that even if Jesse did get free, there was a possibility that he would never see her again, that he’d end up trapped on Cisco’s Earth, but he had to do anything he could to save her. 

“You’d sell out my _world_?” Harry didn’t even care if Cisco hated him after this. It was the least he deserved.

He straightened up again, not responding to Cisco. “I want proof that my daughter’s alive, and I want a guarantee that you’ll free her once I’ve done as you ask.”

Zoom vanished in a flash of lightning again. Cisco glared at Harrison. “I can’t believe you—“

“Be mad at me later,” Harrison said, willing to sacrifice anything, even Cisco’s love, if it meant saving Jesse’s life. “I have to do this, Cisco. We won’t be killing this other Flash, we don’t even know who he is, we’ll just be stealing his speed. This isn’t world domination, this isn’t murdering anyone. You and I, together, can do this and save Jesse.” He looked into Cisco’s brown eyes. “ _Please_ , Cisco.”

Cisco watched him for a long moment. “If this other Flash is my Earth’s only line of defense, then we absolutely will be murdering people,” he snapped finally.

“We’ll find a way to protect your Earth,” Harrison told him. “I won’t let him destroy the things we care about.”

Zoom reappeared in another flash of lightning, carrying— _Jesse._

He threw her to the ground and she stumbled in Harrison’s direction, but Harrison was already moving from Cisco’s arms to embrace her, feeling tears falling down his cheeks. “Jesse!” he cried, wrapping his arms around her. “Jesse, are you okay?”

“Dad!” she cried, clinging to him. “I told him you were coming for me, that you’d stop him. Don’t let him take me back there. We can stop him!”

“I’m going to keep you safe, Jesse Quick,” Harrison promised. “Zoom’s not going to do anything to you. I promise. I’ll—“ 

Just as quickly as she’d appeared, Zoom ripped Jesse from his arms and vanished again.

“No!” Harrison yelled at the empty sky. “Bring her back!” He already knew it was futile. The only option he had was to help Zoom. 

Cisco ran to him again, pulling him back to his feet and cradling him. “Do you promise?” he whispered fiercely, his eyes filled with wild fire. “Do you promise that if we do this to save Jesse, you won’t let him have my Earth?” He spoke so softly, his mouth pressed to Harrison’s temple, that hopefully Zoom and Reverb couldn’t hear. 

“I promise,” Harrison said, hating the brokenness in his voice. 

Zoom reappeared in front of them once more, sans Jesse. “Convinced, Wells?” he asked.

To Harrison’s surprise, Cisco spoke for him. “We’ll do it,” he said. “But I can’t create breaches like Reverb. How are we supposed to get this Flash’s speed to you?”

Zoom’s terrifying mouth curved into a demonic grin. “If a speedster runs fast enough, he can travel through dimensions,” he said. “I’ll find you.” He turned to Reverb. “Do it.” Then he was gone again, blue lightning illuminating the clouds in the sky. 

Reverb looked at them. “You’re sure you don’t want to join forces, Francisco?” he asked.

“Can you guarantee that joining forces with you will keep Jesse alive?” Harrison demanded. “Don’t lie to me, I know the answer is no.”

“There are no guarantees on any Earths, Wells,” Reverb said, theatrically spreading his arms wide.

“We’ll evaluate our options,” Cisco told him. “But it’s not likely. Does Zoom know you’re trying to overthrow him? It feels like that’s dangerous. I wouldn’t mess with that mouthbreather.”

“Your loss, Francisco,” Reverb said with a shrug. He gestured with his wrists and a glowing blue breach opened in front of them, swirling madly. “It’s time to go. Please keep your arms and legs inside the breach at all times.”

Harrison didn’t know if he felt better or worse knowing that beneath everything, Reverb had Cisco’s same sense of humor. It was disconcerting more than anything else. 

Cisco looked at Harrison, who nodded at him that he was ready. “If you or Zoom or anyone hurts a hair on Jesse’s head—“ Harrison began.

“Yes, we know, you’ll murder us,” Reverb said. “Stop stalling and go through the breach, Wells.”

Cisco held out his hand. Harrison blinked, looking down at it, and then took it into his own, lacing their fingers together. 

“On three,” Cisco whispered. “One…two…three!” and together they stepped into the glowing blue maw.

Just as they crossed the event horizon, another figure dodged in behind them, panting as he ran to catch up with them. Harrison and Cisco turned in the glowing blue wormhole to see Jay Garrick, in a tank top and khakis and carrying a backpack of his own.

“Garrick?!” was all that Harrison had time to say out loud before the whirling blue wormhole sucked them away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come chat with me about the Flash on [tumblr](https://saucy-kate.tumblr.com/)! Thank you for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

Harrison, Cisco, and Garrick emerged from the breach into a facility with sirens blaring and lights flashing. They’d emerged into a large room in a place that looked eerily similar to S.T.A.R. Labs, and Harrison held up his pulse gun, on alert for anything this new Earth could throw at them.

When no attack seemed eminent, Harrison whirled on Garrick. “You!” he said, pointing his pulse gun in his direction. “What are you doing here?”

“I need someone to help me get my speed back,” Garrick said defensively, puffing up like some sort of giant blond prey animal. “I’ve been trailing Reverb to try to break into another universe.”

“How much did you hear of our conversation with Zoom?” Harrison demanded.

Jay shook his head. “I was too far away to hear anything. I saw he has your daughter though. That sucks.” Harrison had to count to ten so that he wouldn’t punch Garrick in his smug, handsome face. At least Garrick didn’t know that Zoom had tasked them with stealing the speed of this universe’s Flash.

The sirens and whirling red lights hadn’t ceased and were starting to give Harrison a headache. Was there some sort of breach alert programmed into this place?

“Warm welcome from your Earth,” he said dryly to Cisco.

Cisco shrugged, glancing around the empty room. “Hey man, don’t blame me for Reverb’s bad choices.” The irony of the statement would have been almost funny if Harrison hadn’t been so worried about Jesse that his heart was trapped permanently in the vicinity of his throat.

“His Earth?” Garrick asked, wrinkling his forehead in confusion. “You’re from another Earth?”

“Don’t think too hard about it,” Harrison said. “It might give you a seizure.” Garrick glared at him.

“I know you didn’t want me along on whatever errand you happen to be running right now, but you guys looked pretty chummy with Zoom back there. Is he blackmailing you with your daughter?” Garrick crossed his arms across his chest, looking very blond and stubborn and determined. The urge to punch him reemerged.

Cisco jumped in between them, holding his palms out in a placating manner. “Not that I don’t love drama or the fact that this is about to devolve into an UFC deathmatch,” Cisco said, “but we are kind of stranded right now on an Earth that’s completely foreign to you two. Maybe we could fight later?”

Harrison sighed and refocused on the situation at hand. 

“Whatever this alarm is,” he said, “it’s either not because of us, they don’t know where we are, or this place is deserted.” All of those options had their downsides. He gestured with the pulse gun towards the door that seemed to lead deeper into the facility. “Let’s figure out where we are.”

As they approached the open doorway, Harry with his pulse gun on ready and Cisco, goggles on, holding his hands ready for vibe blasts, a sign came further into view that made Harry pause in his tracks, staring at it with his mouth open. “S.T.A.R. Labs – Dimensional Research Division,” it read in graying font, covered with a layer of dust. 

“Oh my god,” Cisco murmured behind him. “We’re at _my_ S.T.A.R. Labs.”

It explained why the facility felt familiar – and why Harrison felt so off balance. He pressed his hand against the dust and grime, rubbing the sign clear so he could study the text. “This room hasn’t been used in a long time,” he said, not missing the fact that Cisco’s hands began to shake at his words.

He slung his pulse gun back over his shoulder, although never far from being ready to grab it once more, and moved to take Cisco’s hands in his. “Hey,” he said. “The building is still here. That bodes well for your friends still being alive.” Although low-lying panic was still running through his own brain, comforting Cisco was a nice distraction, a good way to concentrate on something that didn’t make him want to tear his own hair out with rage.

Garrick paced the room, examining everything. “This seems to be an abandoned lab,” he said. “Whoever worked here hasn’t been here for a long time.”

Harrison couldn’t see Cisco’s eyes thanks to the goggles, but he caught the movement of his throat as he swallowed thickly. He squeezed Cisco’s hands again.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go figure out if there’s anybody here.”

The hallways around the abandoned laboratory were equally dust-covered, lit only by the flashing red lights that accompanied the ever-present siren. Harrison mentally tracked where he guessed they were relative to the layout of his own S.T.A.R. Labs, trying to lead them to a more central location.

Just as he figured they were probably approaching a bank of elevators, a gust of wind and red lightning burst past them and coalesced into a masked figure, dressed in jeans and a red jacket with a red domino mask concealing his eyes.

It was a terrible disguise – even only having met him once, Harrison could tell that this was the doppelganger of Detective West’s husband. He was also, obviously, a speedster.

“Put down the gun,” said the man calmly, holding his hands out in front of him. “I don’t want to hurt you.” Pausing, he seemed to get a better look at them and froze. “…Dr. Wells?”

“I’m not dropping my weapon,” said Harrison, aiming the pulse gun at him. “Who are you?”

The man looked startled. “Dr. Wells, it’s me, Barry,” he said, pulling off the domino mask like an absolute moron. The earnestness in his expression made something soften inside Harrison, just for a moment, but he didn’t drop his gun. “Did something happen to your memory? Are you—wait, you’re not in your chair.” He glanced at Cisco and Garrick, clearly not recognizing either of them.

“We can explain,” said Cisco, taking a step forward. “This isn’t the Harrison Wells you know. He’s—“ 

“You’re from the other Earth,” Barry concluded. “Oh my god.”

“You know about the other Earth?!” Cisco took off his goggles and pushed past Harry to study the doppelganger of Barry Allen.

Allen regarded them for a moment, and Harrison was struck by the differences between him and West’s husband on his own Earth. West’s husband had been meek and shy, but this man was bold, meeting all of their frightened gazes. Confidence poured off of him in a way that Allen had never shown, and Harrison realized in between one heartbeat and the next that he _had_ to be this Earth’s Flash.

“A speedster from the other Earth has been sending metahumans through to our Earth to fight me,” Allen said, focusing finally on Cisco.

“You’re the Flash!” Garrick exclaimed excitedly. He too walked right past Harrison’s still-cocked pulse gun to step into Allen’s space, his hand out for a shake. “I’m the Flash of our Earth. It’s an honor to meet you.”

Harrison sighed and finally put down the pulse gun, giving up. There was no way he was going to shoot Garrick or Cisco, and if Allen was a threat, a speedster could move faster than all of them combined anyway.

Allen shook Garrick’s hand, a grin breaking out. “Barry Allen,” he said.

“Jay Garrick.”

“I’m Cisco Ramon,” Cisco said, “and this is obviously Harrison Wells. We’ve…come to help you fight Zoom.”

Allen glanced at them for a moment, focusing particularly on Harrison, who fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze.

“Why do you want to help us fight Zoom?” Allen asked.

“He’s been a virus on our world for too long,” Garrick said. “He’s a menace and he holds the world at his fingertips. As long as Zoom is free, no man, woman, or child is safe.”

Harry rolled his eyes. Was the pontificating really necessary?

Allen looked thoughtful. “I think we could use all the help we can get,” he said finally, “so I won’t say no to that. Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of my team." 

It felt like Allen was trusting them way too fast, but Harrison dutifully followed him as he turned to lead them further down the hallway to the elevators and pressed the button for where Harrison’s personal lab was located in his own S.T.A.R. Labs.

They stood in awkward silence on the elevator, Cisco sliding closer into Harry’s space as though to comfort himself that Harrison was still there. Harrison could almost feel the anxiety coming off of him in waves; whatever they were going to learn in the next few hours, there was a chance that Cisco was not going to like it.

They emerged from the elevator into a brightly-lit room which Harrison surveyed with a keen eye. Cisco’s Earth was much shinier than his own – where Harry’s Earth had a gold aesthetic, this one (or at least, this S.T.A.R. Labs) seemed to follow more of a silver-and-white color scheme, all sharp angles and wide surfaces. The technology level looked similar, but the style was also slightly different.

A young woman stood at one of the computers, checking something on the monitor, and she glanced up as they entered. Her eyes widened and she gasped, so loud that it echoed through the space. “Cisco?” she asked hesitantly, as though she couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Caitlin!” Cisco exclaimed, breaking from his place beside Harrison to run towards her. She met him halfway and the two of them collided into a hug, clinging to each other tightly. Cisco wasn’t facing Harry, but it was clear from the running mascara that the woman was crying as she held him to her. Harrison knew immediately who she was from the descriptions Cisco had given him – the doppelganger of Killer Frost, Caitlin Snow. He could even see hints of Killer Frost in her delicate features.

“We thought you were dead,” Snow said at last, slowly releasing Cisco and stepping back to look him over. She wrinkled her nose prettily. “What are you _wearing_?”

Cisco wiped away a few tears of his own. “My super suit,” he said, spinning around so she could take in the full effect of the leather. Harrison sighed the sigh of the long-suffering. “You like?”

Snow laughed through her tears. “That’s a way better super suit than Barry’s,” she said, reaching for a tissue and blowing her nose. She sniffled a bit. “Sorry. I just…Ronnie and I thought you’d died to save us, Cisco. I can’t believe…this feels like a dream, having you standing here in front of me.”

“Ronnie’s alive?” Cisco asked, the desperation clear in his voice. “What about the rest of our team? Dr. Wells?”

Caitlin nodded with a smile, showing the wedding ring on her finger. “They’re all alive,” she said. “You saved everyone, Cisco.” She sniffled again. “And Dr. Wells is—“

“Alive and well, and even mostly in one piece,” a familiar voice finished from behind them.

Harrison whirled around, instinctively reaching for his pulse gun.

His doppelganger sat in a powered wheelchair behind them, having approached soundlessly. He looked them over with a calculating expression, focusing particularly on Harrison, before he turned to give Cisco a soft, paternalistic smile. 

“I’m glad to see you survived, Cisco. I have a long list with the names of those who were murdered by my hubris that night, and nothing makes me happier than being able to cross yours off of it.”

Harrison immediately, _immediately_ did not like him. 

Cisco approached slowly, glancing at Harrison briefly as though to check in and confirm that they were indeed two separate men. “Dr. Wells,” he said hesitantly.

“Cisco,” Dr. Wells said. “Why don’t we all have a seat and you can tell us how you survived the particle accelerator explosion?” He glanced at Harrison and Garrick. “And you can introduce your friends?”

Harrison looked at him flatly. “I think you can figure out who I am,” he said his tone on the borderline of rude.

Cisco looked scandalized. “Harry!” he hissed. “This is my Dr. Wells! Your doppelganger!”

“’Harry?’” Dr. Wells echoed, looking Harrison up and down. He moved his chair closer to him and held out a hand for a shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Harrison.”

Harry regarded the proffered hand without taking it. Was this how Cisco had felt when he’d first been eye-to-eye with Reverb? The uncanniness was disconcerting.

Other than the wheelchair, he and his Earth-1 counterpart were dressed nearly identically in all black. Their hair was styled slightly differently but wore the same glasses, the frames looking just as flattering on his doppelganger’s face as his own.

After a moment, Dr. Wells seemed to realize he wasn’t going to shake his hand and shrugged and powered backwards again. “It’s incredible to see the theory of the multiverse proven so absolutely,” he said at last. “We’ve known that Zoom has been sending metas from another Earth to fight Barry, but there’s knowing and then there’s _seeing_. I suppose there’s nothing like coming face to face with yourself,” he added with a chuckle. 

“Tell me about it,” Cisco said with a long sigh. “Don’t let Harry put you off; he’s always like this, and he’s had one hell of a day. Let’s go sit down and we’ll tell you about why we’re here.” 

Snow, Allen, and Harry’s doppelganger led them into a smaller room with chairs and couches, where they all settled in a circle. Garrick briefly introduced himself as Earth-2’s Flash and received a few polite questions before the true interrogation began.

Cisco told his story clearly, the same story he’d told Harry a month and a half before, and Harrison took the time to watch his doppelganger’s reactions. Dr. Wells regarded Cisco in a way that clearly communicated his deep affection for him, asking calm, well-reasoned questions and guiding him slowly towards the parts of his story that he wanted to hear about most. 

Interestingly, Cisco completely left out the fact that he was the CEO of an up-and-coming tech firm on Earth-2, instead blandly saying that he’d been working with Garrick and Harry to develop his metahuman powers to return home.

“So you’re a metahuman,” Dr. Wells said thoughtfully, looking Cisco over. “Very impressive, Cisco.” Harry honestly couldn’t tell if the statement was meant to sound encouraging or condescending.

“Thanks,” Cisco said, looking like he didn’t know what to do with the statement either. “What happened here after I left? How did you end up helping Barry?”

Wells and Caitlin exchanged looks. “S.T.A.R. Labs has not been operational since FEMA categorized us as a class 4 hazardous location after the particle accelerator explosion,” the other Wells said tightly. “17 people died that night, many more were injured, myself amongst them.” He glanced at Cisco. “I guess that number would be 16, now.”

“That’s why you’re in the…?” Cisco gestured to the wheelchair awkwardly.

“I was permanently injured during the explosion, yes,” Dr. Wells confirmed. “But compared to others, I was very lucky. Mr. Allen here was struck with lightning during the explosion, and the ensuing chemical reaction transformed him into a speedster.” 

“For the last year and a half, I’ve been keeping Central City safe from other metahumans,” Allen jumped in. “Caitlin, Ronnie, Dr. Wells, and a few other friends have been part of my team. They’re helping me control my speed and become faster.”

Garrick turned to Cisco with a smile. “It looks like we’ve come to the right place,” he said.

Cisco’s expression was far more dubious, and Harry felt his stomach drop. He could tell just by looking at him that Cisco was not going to want to continue with the plan to steal Allen’s speed for Zoom; not when Allen was working with his friends, with his former boss.

Snow turned to focus her big eyes on Harrison, looking him over. “So you’re Dr. Wells’s doppelganger from Earth-2?” she asked. The rest of their group turned to look at him as well, freed by Snow’s question to finally stare. Allen glanced back and forth between himself and Earth-1’s Dr. Wells like he couldn’t believe the resemblance. 

“I’m Harrison Wells on my Earth, yes,” Harry said awkwardly.

“You can call him Harry,” Cisco butted in.

Harry frowned at him. “You can call me _Harrison_. Only Ramon insists on that ridiculous nickname.” Secretly, he was becoming fond of ‘Harry’, but he’d never admit that in Cisco’s presence.

“How did you meet Cisco?” Caitlin asked, glancing between them.

Harrison didn’t know how much Cisco wanted him to reveal about his life on Earth-2. “Detective West brought him in to help CCPD fight against Zoom. We formed a task force and I helped Ramon train his powers.” He glanced over, but Cisco was studying the wood grain of one of the desks, not meeting his eyes. It was clear that they were going to have to talk, _privately_ , very soon.

“We work with Detective West too!” Snow exclaimed. “Our universes are so similar.” Harrison was unsurprised to hear it; the presence of Barry Allen implied that Iris West was somewhere nearby. 

“Do you have S.T.A.R. Labs on your Earth? Did you build a particle accelerator?” Allen was filled with enthusiastic questions, although thankfully, he didn’t preface them with ‘gosh’ like his doppelganger would have. “This is so exciting, having an alternate Dr. Wells here! How different are you?”

Harrison glanced at his doppelganger, who was watching him with a careful expression. It was a good question.

Cisco glanced back up and met Harry’s gaze for a split second before turning to Barry. “Well to start, Harry’s a dick,” he said.

“Thanks, Ramon,” said Harrison. 

“He’s also an intense dad,” Cisco continued. “He’s got this amazing daughter, Jesse.”

Snow and Allen both raised eyebrows and turned to Harry. “You have a daughter?” He remembered suddenly from previous conversations with Cisco that his doppelganger did not. 

Dr. Wells turned to him. “Is Tess still alive?” he asked softly. Harry also knew that Dr. Wells was a widower as well, and he wanted _so_ desperately to lie, to tell him that there was a universe where Tess Morgan lived, but he shook his head and his doppelganger looked away again. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Yours as well,” Harry replied awkwardly, not sure where this sentiment had appeared from so suddenly. His doppelganger had felt so different from him until that moment, but suddenly they were two men who had both experienced the same loss. It was disorienting.

The interrogation about Earth-2 continued for a bit longer before Snow cracked a huge yawn, apologizing profusely even though Harrison could see from the clock on the wall that it was nearing midnight.

“We’ve taken enough of your time,” Garrick said, throwing Caitlin a small smile. “If you could provide us a place to stay, even just a couch, we would be happy to get out of your way.”

Harry wasn’t particularly thrilled about the offer to sleep on a couch – Garrick was in the prime of his life, but Harry’s back would not be happy in the morning – but Dr. Wells waved the statement away.

“Nonsense. We’ll set up a place for you to stay while you’re here,” said Dr. Wells. “There are many abandoned offices in this complex that we can convert into a place to sleep.”

They all began to head back to the cortex as they made plans for the evening. “I’ll set up the rooms,” Allen said, and vanished in a flash, leaving Harry feeling a bit shell-shocked. Garrick had never shown off his powers as much or used them for practical things; it was an interesting contrast.

As they walked back to the cortex, Dr. Wells powered his chair next to Cisco. “Cisco,” he said with a frown. “Unfortunately your apartment was cleaned out when we thought you were dead.” 

“I’m fine with staying with Harry and Jay,” Cisco said with a shrug.

“Do you want us to get in touch with your parents?”

Harry watched, surprised, as Cisco shook his head vehemently. “I’ll talk to them,” he promised, “but not right now. I have to figure out how to do it.” He sighed. “They’re going to be _pissed_ at me.”

Snow smiled at him. “Don’t you think they’ll just be glad to have you alive?” she asked softly.

Cisco slowly moved so that he was standing in Harry’s orbit, reaching out briefly to brush their fingers together out of the view of the others like he needed the assurance that Harry was still there. Harry’s brain was in a million places at once – worry about Jesse, uncanny discomfort about being in the presence of another _him_ , the slight buzz of culture shock from the different look and feel of this new Earth – but he still reached out and snatched Cisco’s fingers back, greedily wrapping his own around them and squeezing. The grateful look that Cisco shot him was worth every star in the heavens. Harry knew Cisco was probably still mad at him – they really needed to talk about what had happened before Reverb had sent them to Cisco’s Earth – but he also was leaning on him for strength.

There was something different about Cisco here on his Earth, surrounded by people he’d known before. The confident, bombastic young man who’d put together his own company in less than two years had vanished, replaced by a more cautious man, careful in his speech, more muted. Harry felt like he had a window into who Cisco had been before his entire life had been turned upside down, and wondered how he would have felt if he’d first met _this_ Cisco. He was still charming and gorgeous and brilliant, but would Harrison have felt that he could act as boldly around him, that he could be so obvious about his feelings? There was a vulnerability to him that Harrison wasn’t sure how to manage.

Allen reappeared as Harrison was ruminating, giving them a thumbs up. “Three rooms have been set up for visitors!” he announced. “I repurposed some of the infirmary cots in a couple of the abandoned offices upstairs. It’s not a five-star hotel, but you guys should be comfortable.” He smiled sheepishly at them.

“Don’t worry, man, nobody expects you to recreate the Ritz,” Cisco said. “Lead the way?”

Allen headed for the elevator, Garrick and Cisco trailing him, leaving Harry standing with Dr. Wells. He glanced at his doppelganger awkwardly before hefting his backpack and pulse gun. “Thank you,” he said.

“It’s the least we can do,” Dr. Wells said kindly, almost _too_ kindly. He studied Harrison for a moment; Harry met his gaze, refusing to look away. “I wonder,” his doppelganger continued finally, “how similar we really are?”

He wheeled away down the hallway, leaving Harry staring after him, the feeling of distaste never fading.

“Harry!” Cisco shouted from the elevator. “Are you coming?”

Harry nodded and headed for the open doors. He’d worry about his doppelganger later.

* * *

The offices that Allen had put them in were on the third floor, with large windows looking out onto the cityscape. As Allen gave them a tour of the accommodations and showed them to the nearest bathroom and the location of the locker room for showers, Harry took the time to take everything in, carefully logging the differences between his Earth and this strange, foreign one. He examined the decoration choices, the bland art on the walls, the furniture styles. Everything, _everything_ was different from home. It was like being in a foreign country. He could already feel the disorientation of culture shock combining with his remaining trauma from Jesse’s abduction, leaving him exhausted. 

He thought about Cisco, about what it must have felt like to appear on _his_ Earth with no connection to any of it, how scared and uncomfortable he must have been. He glanced over, but Cisco was back to ignoring him, clearly upset to someone like Harry who knew him so well. 

Snow came upstairs to say goodnight and check out their accommodations, glancing into the offices and nodding her approval. She hugged Cisco goodnight before turning to Harry and shaking her head. “I’m sure this is eventually going to get less weird,” she said, “but having another Dr. Wells around is just so bizarre.” She glanced at Garrick out of the corner of her eye and looked away again. “And you’re just so—different than our Dr. Wells,” she finished.

“Just call him Harry,” Cisco said. “It’ll make things easier for everyone.” Harrison scowled.

After assuring themselves that their visitors would be okay, Allen and Snow left them to their new rooms in peace. Cisco selected the middle room, serving effectively as a much-needed buffer, and Harry stowed his backpack and pulse gun in the furthest room from the elevator, glad to be as far from Garrick as possible. He was preparing to settle in when a small knock sounded at the door, and a moment later, Cisco pushed his way inside, closing the door behind him. 

“Hey,” he said, glancing everywhere but at Harry. 

“Hey,” Harry replied. He wasn’t the type to apologize, and he _wasn’t_ sorry that he’d agreed to steal Allen’s speed, especially since Cisco had ultimately been the one to take Zoom up on his offer. Harry was going to do what it would take to save Jesse, and while he cared about Cisco’s Earth, he also wasn’t going to sacrifice Jesse’s life to save it. 

Cisco walked over and sat at the end of Harry’s uncomfortable-looking cot. “Harry,” he said miserably, “we can’t steal Barry’s speed.”

Harry sighed wearily, walking over to the window and looking out over the cityscape so foreign from his own. “I had a feeling you’d changed your mind,” he said at last. He could see his own image reflected in the glass; he looked weary, a bit haggard, and he took off his glasses and massaged his temples, trying to relieve the slight headache that was building.

“I have to be honest,” Cisco said. “I _never_ intended to steal his speed, even when I promised Zoom we would. We needed to get out of that situation and we needed to get to a safe place where we could strategize without Zoom knowing where we were. We bought Jesse the time she needed. Now we have to think of a way to save both of our Earths.”

Harrison clenched his fist. “Cisco. We can’t plot against Zoom. If we fail to take Zoom out, Jesse will—he’ll—“ The thought of Jesse being murdered by Zoom because _he’d_ failed was more than he could bear.

“Harry,” Cisco said back. He stood and moved carefully over to stand next to Harrison at the window, looking out over the city as well. “Do you really think Zoom’s going to let Jesse go once he has Barry Allen’s speed?”

The question echoed through the room. It was something that Harrison had been trying very hard not to wonder himself. He didn’t reply.

After a moment, Cisco continued. “I know you’re running on fear and adrenaline right now, and you have been since we found out Jesse was taken, but you have to take a breath, think about the big picture. Zoom has leverage on you right now – you think he’ll give that up once you deliver? You think Jesse will ever be safe ever again once Zoom finds out she’s the tool he needs to make you do what he says?”

Cisco was right, and Harrison knew it, but the alternative was far more frightening than Harrison could bear. “So you want me to risk Jesse’s life to fight Zoom.”

Cisco shook his head. “Right now, I want you to think about it. You’re the smartest person I know, and that’s including this universe’s Dr. Wells. I know you’ll think through the ramifications of your choices once you stop running on instinct. You need to rest and take some time to gather yourself, and then let’s talk to my friends in the morning.” He reached out and took Harry’s hand, smoothing his thumb across Harry’s knuckles. Harry turned and glanced at him, rocked by the sheer earnestness and affection he could see in Cisco’s expression.

They watched one another for a moment, tension filling the air around them. Harry wished for a long moment that things were less complicated, that he could reach out and pull Cisco to him. It had been less than a day since he’d kissed him, and he could still remember the feel of Cisco’s mouth under his.

But in the end, Cisco was going to stay on that Earth and Harry was going to return to Jesse.

“Okay,” Harry said at last. “Let’s talk to your friends in the morning.”

Cisco visibly deflated like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He grinned shakily at Harry. “Thank you,” he said at last. “We’re going to save my Earth _and_ Jesse. You know we can’t accept anything less.” 

“I hope you’re right, Ramon,” Harry said, turning back to the cot and turning down the thin sheets to prepare to sleep. Cisco watched him for a moment longer before turning on his heel and heading for the door. 

“Good night, Cisco,” Harrison said softly as Cisco was about to slip out, hearing all of the feelings he didn’t dare speak aloud slip through the cracks of his words. 

“Good night, Harry,” Cisco replied with the same weight before quietly letting himself out.

* * *

A good night’s sleep and a long shower left Harrison feeling more like himself, although he still felt massively out of place and alien in this new world. The dials on the shower had taken him several minutes to figure out, and once he’d found Cisco and Garrick in a small staff kitchen with some breakfast items provided by their hosts, the packaging on the cereal packet he’d grabbed had been absolutely mystifying – Cisco finally snatched it from him and showed him where a small notch was placed in the plastic to rip the package apart. Harrison had never seen so much plastic in his life.

“This is almost as bad as my last trip to Russia,” he muttered.

“Foreign country, foreign universe, what’s the difference?” Cisco quipped, spreading jam on some toast. He’d changed into his spare clothes from his backpack, jeans and a red shirt that accentuated his pretty hair, and he seemed far more chipper than the day before. Harry wondered if it was comforting for him to be home after so long.

Garrick was seated at the small table, eating a banana he’d cut into neat slices. The spread of breakfast foods that had been left for them was quite remarkable, and Harrison slowly went through them, cataloguing all his options and the differences between universes. It was fascinating.

“Where did this food come from?” Harry asked, finally seating himself next to Cisco at the table with some cereal and milk.

“Dr. Wells,” Cisco replied. “He also left a suitcase full of clothes in your size out in the hallway.”

Harrison made a sour face; there was nothing like kindness to make one feel bad about disliking someone.

“He told us to come down to the cortex after we’re done,” Cisco added. “Apparently Caitlin’s trying to get a phone for me.” He studied the toast on his plate like it was particularly fascinating, not looking up to meet Harry’s eye. “She wants me to be able to get in touch with my family, but they all think I’m dead,” he said softly. “How do you come back from that? ‘Surprise, I’m alive after all!’ seems really empty in the face of what they’ve been through. Look at how Caitlin reacted.”

“I don’t think there’s an easy way to reveal the truth,” Harrison said, “but I’m sure they’d still want to know you’re alive.”

Cisco looked doubtful; Harrison wanted to personally fight every person who had made him feel like he wasn’t worthy of unconditional love. “You haven’t met my family,” Cisco muttered. 

“It’s been nearly two years since you’ve seen them, and they’ve spent those years mourning you,” Harry told him, resting a hand on his back. “You don’t know what they’ve been through. Give them some credit.”

Cisco raised his eyes to look at him. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with Harrison Wells?” he demanded. “Did you switch places with your doppelganger overnight? Jay, he’s acting like a pod person, right?”

Garrick blinked. “I haven’t been paying attention,” he said, gesturing to his sliced banana.

“Well, Harry’s acting weird,” said Cisco.

“Yes, being stuck in an alternate universe with no way home, my daughter kidnapped by a supervillain – who can imagine why I’m acting strange?” Harrison sighed and rubbed his temples. “I’m just trying to be helpful, Ramon. There’s nothing I can do to help Jesse right now, so the least I can do is help _you_.”

Garrick made a face at them. “It’s really early for this, you guys.”

“Early for what?” Cisco asked, eyes wide in total innocence. Harrison didn’t even bother to project the same energy, rolling his eyes at Garrick instead.

“You don’t have to pretend around me,” Garrick said to Cisco. “I know about you two. It’s not a big deal.”

Cisco and Harry looked at one another. “Know about what?” Harrison asked dangerously. 

“He thinks we’re boning,” said Cisco. He glanced at Jay. “Sorry man, Harry and I are just friends.”

Garrick leveled them both a look with two raised eyebrows. “I don’t know what you get out of pretending, but if you want to play it like that, I’m not going to stop you,” he said. He turned directly at Cisco. “You can do better, though.”

“Hey,” said Harry, rising to his feet. “What does that mean?”

“Yeah, he’s real convinced that we’re not boning now, Harry. Sit _down_.” Cisco reached up and pulled Harry back to sitting by his shoulders, and Harry let himself be pushed back into his chair. “Honestly,” Cisco said with a fond smile.

“Shut up, Ramon,” Harry said.

There was a click-clack of high heels on the tiled floor behind them, and Harrison turned to see Caitlin Snow approaching. She was as well put-together as she had the day before, her look perfect down to her lipstick, and she gave a small wave as she stopped by the table.

“Good morning!” she greeted them. “When you’re ready, Dr. Wells requested that we give you a tour of S.T.A.R. Labs.” She glanced at their breakfast choices. “I hope like the food?”

“It’s perfect, Caitlin,” Cisco reassured her. “And we’ll take you up on that tour. I barely recognize this place anymore." 

Harry finished his cereal and rose to take his bowl to the sink. Snow started at his movement and stepped back before laughing at herself. 

“Sorry, still not used to you—to Dr. Wells—whatever! He’s usually in the chair, I forgot he was—you were—so tall.” She frowned. “This is getting confusing.”

“Trust me,” Harry said dryly. “I understand.”

After cleaning up their breakfast things, they followed Snow back down to the cortex. Being at a S.T.A.R. Labs that both did and did not feel like Harrison’s own wasn’t any less unsettling the second day around.

Snow and Allen started off by giving Cisco, Harry, and Garrick a very excited tour of their superhero operation, which Harrison had to admit was more effective run out of S.T.A.R. Labs than their super squad’s own home base of CCPD – since S.T.A.R. Labs was closed off by FEMA, it gave the Flash’s team on this other Earth a lot more freedom, and they had easy access to all of Dr. Wells’ technology.

After the tour, Snow left them in the cortex, where Cisco and Garrick quickly got absorbed in talking to Allen about the minutiae of superheroing on Earth-1. Harry hung back, letting them be, and soon his doppelganger rolled up to him, watching him carefully with those expressionless eyes.

“How did you sleep?” he asked.

Harry glanced at him. “It was fine,” he said shortly. The cot hadn’t been the most comfortable, but he’d quickly fallen into a restless, dreamless sleep that had lasted him until morning, so he couldn’t complain. “Thank you for the clothes,” he added. Despite his misgivings about his doppelganger, the thought of having a spare change of clothes was comforting.

“It’s nothing,” said Dr. Wells. “I have more than enough; plenty to spare for another me.” He smiled. “I also left some toiletries in the bathroom that I collected from conferences. Back when I used to go to conferences.” He glanced down at his thighs and smiled wryly. “It sounds like you’re not quite such a pariah on your Earth.”

“To be fair,” said Harry, “the explosion of my particle accelerator was kept a secret.”

Dr. Wells’ eyebrows rose into his hairline. “ _Really_ ,” he said, his gaze suddenly intense, alert. “You had one too. Interesting.”

“Not really. I created Zoom.” Harry didn’t know why he was telling this to his doppelganger, who he’d already decided he didn’t like or trust. What harm could such knowledge have, though? Cisco already knew, and he hardly cared what Garrick or any of Cisco’s Earth-1 friends thought of him.

“Was there a particular reason for your accelerator’s explosion?” Wells asked him carefully.

It seemed like an odd way to phrase such a question, but perhaps Harry didn’t understand something about Earth-1. “I misjudged the way the weather conditions over Central City would interact with the electromagnetic fields generated by the radio frequency cavities, and the accelerator overloaded. I had it located in a facility underground, so we were able to keep the blast contained, but dark matter still spread throughout Central City and created metahumans.”

Dr. Wells watched him. “Interesting,” he said. “I made the same error with mine.” He smiled cheerfully. “I suppose great minds think alike. We’ll have to chat more about your endeavors sometime soon. I’m curious to hear about how you’ve spent your time.”

Harry had the curious feeling that his doppelganger was trying to hint at something, but he had no idea what it could be, unless he’d somehow picked up on the questionable nature of his relationship with Cisco. “Of course,” he said awkwardly.

“As for the rooms, obviously Cisco will probably get his own place again or move back with his parents once he’s had a chance to speak with them. However, you and Jay Garrick are welcome to stay as long as you need to.”

“We don’t know how to get back to my Earth, so you may regret making that offer,” Harry told him dryly, trying to ignore how the mention of Cisco leaving practically gave him heart palpitations.

Dr. Wells didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. “Then you’ll have to join our team here,” he said with a shrug. “The presence of another Harrison Wells can only improve our situation.” With a cheeky grin, he wheeled off, leaving Harry left even more unsettled than before.

A boisterous voice yelled, “Cisco!” from the entrance of the cortex, and Cisco’s entire face lit up at once. He broke away from Snow and Allen, running and hugging the tall man framed in the doorway. Harry tampered down the flare of jealousy that flared in his gut; it was clear that this man was the spitting image of Deathstroke, and thus Snow’s husband.

Not-Deathstroke let Cisco go finally and smiled down at him. “I couldn’t believe it when Cait came home last night and told me you were alive.” He put one hand on Cisco’s shoulder. “For months, I had nightmares about that night. I thought I’d killed you.”

“No, man, I’m a metahuman, I’m not that easy to kill.” Cisco’s ease with his old friends made something ache in Harry’s heart; he’d never seen Cisco like this before, and he realized then how little of Cisco his Earth had ever really seen. Being stolen from his context had taken something from him, even though he’d built a new life on top of that loss. Seeing the weight lifted off of his shoulders made Harry want to keep it off forever.

Raymond looked over at Harry finally and did a double take. “Cait did _not_ lie about that, either,” he said, walking over and holding out a hand. Harry shook once, firmly, impressed with his handshake. “Ronnie Raymond,” he introduced himself.

“Harrison Wells,” Harry said.

“I think he knows that,” Cisco stage whispered. Harry reached over and gently ruffled his hair, causing Cisco to squawk and smooth it down.

Raymond glanced between them, clearly unsure about what had just happened. “You’re absolutely identical to our Dr. Wells. That’s amazing. Seeing multiverse theory proven is...Cisco, you should publish something on this.”

Cisco laughed. “How am I going to do that?” he asked. “I’m still technically dead, and even if I wasn’t, it’s not like I’ve lived a peer reviewable experience. I’m more likely to be institutionalized.”

“We’re working on fixing the ‘technically dead’ thing,” Raymond told him. “Or at least, Caitlin, Joe, and Dr. Wells are.”

There was a name Harrison didn’t know. “Joe?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Detective Joe West. He’s Barry’s adopted father.”

Harry and Cisco glanced at one another. “You said _Joe_ West? Not Detective Iris West?” Cisco clarified.

Allen came up behind them. “You guys know Iris?!” he asked enthusiastically. “I mean, Iris’s doppelganger? She’s a detective?”

“She’s _the_ detective,” Cisco said definitively. “She’s the leader of our super squad.” Harrison gave him a Look to warn him not to give too much away about Allen’s marital status to West on their Earth.

“It makes sense she’d be a good detective,” Allen mused. “She’s a killer journalist, here. You won’t be able to meet her, though – she’s on her honeymoon right now.” He looked a little sour at the thought, and that answered the question about whether or not Allen and West were together on this Earth as well.

“Good for her,” Cisco said. “Marriage. Totally good for the soul.” He gave them an awkward thumbs up and dragged Raymond away to catch up, presumably so that he wouldn’t risk giving anything else away about Allen and West on Earth-2.

Raymond and Cisco spent the afternoon clearing out one of the workshops on the cortex level to create a workspace for Cisco and Harry. Raymond himself was a masterful engineer, but the workshop he used was barely larger than a broom closet, hardly enough space for Cisco and Harry to do their usual invention tag-team routine.

The moment they had some space, Cisco handed Harry his goggles. “These aren’t working right,” he said.

Harry glanced down at them, turning them over in his hand. “They’re not working right?” he repeated.

“I’m not able to get my vibes to work here,” Cisco said. “I tried last night, but something’s different.”

Harry snapped his fingers. “This Earth vibrates at a different frequency than ours,” he said, not realizing until after the word left his mouth that he’d said ‘ours’ instead of ‘mine’. “We constructed the goggles to resonate with Earth-2’s frequency, not this one.” He moved to the table and began to examine the goggles closely. “With a few modifications, we should be able to recalibrate them for this Earth.”

After some tests, they isolated the issue – the wavelength trigger needed to be modified to accommodate frequencies on various Earths. “Try them now,” said Harry, handing them to Cisco. He put them on and rested his hand on Harry’s shoulder, going rigid as he was thrown into a vibe. Success.

Cisco pulled the goggles off a moment later and handed them back. “Jesse’s still okay,” he said, looking deep into Harry’s eyes.

At his words, Harrison felt the edge of sanity he’d been teetering on that day crumble beneath his feet. “You saw her?” he asked, hearing the shaking in his voice and feeling wetness in his eyes. “She’s still okay? Still alive?" 

“She’s annoying Killer Frost with her killer wit,” Cisco said with a small, sad smile. He took the goggles and placed them on the workbench. “I think she’s going to be fine, Harry.”

Harrison couldn’t help himself – he reached over and folded Cisco into a hug, pulling him against him. Cisco stayed in his arms for a long time, longer than necessary, until Harry felt steady enough to separate and stand on his own two feet again.

“We’re going to get her back,” Cisco whispered fiercely. “I promise.”

* * *

Harry managed to corner Allen alone sometime in the early evening. Cisco, Snow, Raymond, and the other Dr. Wells were eating dinner together in the cortex and “catching up”, and Harrison had felt awkward joining them, especially with his doppelganger present. Instead, he found himself wandering into a room with a huge treadmill, finding Allen checking something on the monitors. 

“Oh!” Allen exclaimed. “The other Dr. Wells. I mean, uh. Harry?” The nickname sounded awkward from anyone other than Cisco, but it _was_ a way to tell him and the other Dr. Wells apart.

“Harry’s fine,” Harrison said, giving in to the inevitable.

“How are you settling in?” Allen asked, as cheerful and friendly as his doppelganger. “It must be weird, being in an alternate universe, right? What else was it like over there?”

Harry studied him for a moment. “Very similar to here,” he said at last, “except we seem to have acquired a sociopathic speedster.”

“Oh, we have one of those too,” said Allen.

“Right, Zoom’s been crossing universes,” Harry said.

Allen shook his head. “There’s another one. The Reverse Flash.” Something in Allen’s facial expression hardened. “He killed my mother, a long time ago.”

Harrison sat up straighter. “You have one too,” he said softly. “Tell me about him.”

Allen looked thoughtful. “We spent most of last year trying to track him down. He sent us on a bunch of wild goose chases – he tried to frame Ronnie, and Detective West thought he was Dr. Wells for a bit, but neither of those turned out to be real leads. We don’t really know _who_ he is, all we know is he traveled back in time and killed my mother, and an adult version of me was there too.” He made a frustrated face. “It was just starting to feel like we were making progress on locating him when Zoom began to send his metahumans through.”

Harry thought for a moment. “Cisco and I might be able to help you with your speedster problem.”

It was Allen’s turn to focus on him, laser sharp. “You can help us with the Reverse Flash?”

“Cisco’s an engineering genius and I have seven PhDs,” Harry told him. “Of course we can help you. We’ve been working on a prototype device that would counteract the ability to move at superspeed. It doesn’t work yet, and the prototype is unfortunately still stuck on my Earth, but I think we should be able to reconstruct something similar here. Being on another Earth might even be what we need to have a breakthrough.” 

Allen’s expression was tentatively hopeful. “That could be exactly what we’re looking for,” he said with an upbeat smile. Something told Harry that Allen was all too chipper of a person. “Can I ask why you’re so determined to stop Zoom? I understand he’s your enemy, but what’s your history with him?”

Harry considered whether it would do any harm to Jesse to tell him. Finally, he relented – these people were important to Cisco, even though Barry Allen was a relative stranger to both of them, and Harry needed allies if they were going to get Jesse back without ‘selling their souls’. “He kidnapped my daughter,” Harry growled. “And I’m going to get her back.”

Allen whistled under his breath. “I understand,” he said. “We’ll do everything we can to help you.” He put a hand on his shoulder, an odd gesture from a stranger, but Harry had a feeling that Barry Allen spent a lot of time being compassionate to strangers. “We’ll help you rescue her. We’ll stop Zoom.” 

“And we’ll stop the Reverse Flash,” Harrison replied. “Welcome to the team, Allen." 

Allen grinned. “I think that’s my line.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

The morning after Harry’s talk with Allen, they gathered the team in the cortex. Harry scanned the faces around him. Cisco sat beside him, almost too close but not looking at him. Garrick leaned against the far table, standing with Snow and Raymond. The other Dr. Wells was seated in his chair at one of the computers, watching Allen with a considering look, while Joe West leaned against the entrance, the aura of ‘police detective’ practically emanating from him. After meeting him that morning, it had been obvious even before hearing his name that he was related to the intrepid Iris West.

Allen took the lead on the discussion. “So I was talking to the other Dr. Wells—er, to Harry?” he made an awkward face. “We compared notes and realized that we both have speedster problems. Harry says that he and Cisco were working on a device to counteract the speed force on Earth-2 before Zoom sent them here, and he suggested that they could work with us to try to recreate it so that we can take down both Zoom _and_ the Reverse Flash.” He grinned around the room. “Isn’t that great?”

The only person who looked enthused about such a plan besides Cisco was Snow. “Do you really think you could create a device to negate the speed force, Cisco?” she asked. “I haven’t forgotten that you can invent anything, but we haven’t been able to—“

Cisco waved her concerns off with a hand. “Harry and I were about 80% of the way there before Zoom kidnapped us, and we have a whole new Earth full of inspiration now.”

“Wells,” Garrick said, pushing off from the desk and stalking over to Harrison like a cat. “Obviously we have the same goal in wanting to defeat Zoom, but has it occurred to you that maybe your idiotic obsession with creating anti-speedster weaponry is what led to him kidnapping your daughter in the first place?”

Harry stared back at Garrick, feeling his temper rising. “Are you implying it’s _my_ fault that my daughter was kidnapped by a monster?” he demanded.

“Wait,” said Snow. “Zoom has your daughter?”

“Yes,” Harry said shortly, “Zoom is holding her hostage. If we don’t create this anti-speedster device as quickly as possible, he’s going to figure out that we’re making it and kill her. So are you in?”

“Absolutely not,” said the other Dr. Wells. “An anti-speedster device? Barry, are you insane? That could be used against _you_.”

Harry turned back to him, furious to be shot down by _himself_.

The look in Allen’s eyes was stubborn. “I don’t care about that,” he said. “We have to stop Zoom and the Reverse Flash. The good outweighs the potential risk.”

“Not in my eyes,” said the other Dr. Wells. “Your wellbeing means more to me than stopping any evil speedsters, Barry.” 

Cisco gave Harry a look that he couldn’t decipher. Harry was getting the same weird vibe. Something was off about this situation. 

“Excuse me if I disagree, _Dr. Wells_ ,” Harry said, standing up to his full height. He knew it was probably dickish to use his lack of injury against Dr. Wells, but he enjoyed the intimidation factor too much to give it up. He walked right up to Dr. Wells’s chair, his eyes never leaving his doppelganger’s. “Jesse’s safety means everything to me. We’re creating that device, and then we’re going to save her.”

“This is why no one on Earth-2 likes you,” Garrick said. “You don’t get to decide the fate of the rest of our team just because you think it’s a good idea. Caitlin and Ronnie think that they can find a way to get my speed back, and then _I_ can team up with Barry to fight Zoom.”

“Because you’ve been _so_ effective in fighting Zoom in the past,” Harry snapped. “It’s almost like you _want_ him to create maximum chaos sometimes, Garrick.”

Garrick’s eyes narrowed.

The other Dr. Wells wheeled himself in the middle of all of them, holding his hands up. “I’ll admit that an anti-speedster weapon is an option, but let’s hold off on implementing it for now,” he said. “Surely we can find a way to solve your Zoom problem without risking harm to Barry.” He glanced at Garrick. “And, of course, Jay, once he gets his speed back.”

It wasn’t an acceptable answer. If they couldn’t find a way to defeat Zoom, then Harry was going to have to steal Allen’s speed, and he’d actually found himself fond of him in the few hours they’d spent plotting together. He didn’t want to become attached to these people in this alien world – he was already too attached to one of them, anyway – but there seemed to be an earnestness to the people on this Earth that was charming.

As their little group broke up again, Harry put his hand on Cisco’s shoulder and squeezed before heading out the door after his doppelganger, who was wheeling along the hallway. The motorized wheelchair was speedy, but not as fast as Harry could walk on his two long legs; he caught up easily.

Dr. Wells stopped and turned to size him up. 

To Harrison’s annoyance, his complete lack of tack returned with full force, and he demanded, “are you sleeping with Allen?” before his brain caught up with his mouth. 

The other Dr. Wells blinked and then started laughing, a rich, hearty sound. “What is it, Harrison?” he asked. “Just because you’re sleeping with a twenty-something young man, you think everyone else is too?”

Harry sputtered. “I’m not—we’re not—“ Memories of kissing Cisco in the car flooded back to him; while the accusation was technically untrue, it wasn’t because of lack of desire.

“You both hide it terribly,” the other Dr. Wells continued. “I knew within five minutes. You never stop looking at each other, you stand too close, and you always find an excuse to touch him.” He gave Harrison what could almost be described as a smirk. “You know, I considered Cisco too, a long time ago. There’s something about him—“

“We’re not talking about Cisco,” Harry snapped. “My relationship with him doesn’t concern you.”

“I’m his boss and his friend,” Dr. Wells told him. “I think that means it does actually concern me." 

“You _were_ his boss until your invention almost got him killed,” Harry countered. “Why are you so concerned with Barry Allen’s welfare?”

His doppelganger shrugged. “I don’t have a daughter, Harrison, not like you. Maybe that’s why I keep adopting all these Millennials as my surrogates. I like brilliant young people. I like to give them a space to shine, I like to watch them take the world apart and put it back together, and I like to support them and use my power and influence to protect them.”

“You’re saying that Allen’s like a son to you,” Harry said with a roll of his eyes. “Well, Jesse’s technically _your_ flesh and blood as well as mine, so I hope that gives you some incentive to try to save her.”

Dr. Wells regarded him for a long moment and shook his head slightly.

“She’s your daughter, Harrison. Not mine. I have to protect the people who are already in my life. I can’t go off half-cocked on a whim, not anymore. I did that once, and I paid for it.” He gestured to his wheelchair. “I paid a lot for it.” 

Harry still felt like something was wrong. He couldn’t imagine a place in the universe where any version of him wouldn’t want to do anything to save Jesse. The man in front of him didn’t feel like him at all; the man in front of him seemed totally alien.

“We’re nothing alike, are we?” Harry said. 

The other Dr. Wells stared deep into his eyes, like he was trying to put together the pieces of a puzzle. “Nothing alike,” he said at last. “Wasn’t Cisco’s doppelganger in your universe completely different as well? It seems to be a trend.”

“Are you implying that you’re secretly a supervillain?” Harrison said. The joke fell flat, as he probably should have expected it would, and the other Dr. Wells didn’t even crack a smile.

“Forget about the anti-speedster weapon, Harrison,” he said instead, starting to power away again. “Find a way to solve your Zoom problem that doesn’t involve risking harm to Barry Allen.”

Harry watched him go, frowning.

* * *

“I don’t like your Dr. Wells,” he said to Cisco later that day. They were in Cisco’s office room, pouring over the brainstorming notes they’d made for different ways to negate the speed force in a notebook Harry had scrounged from the workshop and the types of devices they could use to recreate each effect.

Cisco looked up, surprise clear on his face. “You don’t like Dr. Wells?” he repeated. “Why not?”

Harrison realized that this was the man that Cisco hero-worshipped, and that he probably shouldn’t say anything, but Cisco was the only person he trusted in that entire universe. “Something about him feels off. Why is he so obsessed with keeping Barry Allen safe?” 

“Uh. He cares about him?” Cisco suggested. “He was a little over the top, yeah, I admit it. But Dr. Wells is great.”

“You turned around to look at me just to make a face,” Harrison reminded him. “You found it unnerving too.”

“Unnerving? Okay, a little. But Dr. Wells cares about people, he always has. When I worked for him, he always left his office door open just in case employees wanted to chat. He gave really generous bonuses and gifts, and he always listened to employee feedback and tried to make S.T.A.R. Labs a good place to work.” Cisco shrugged. “He cares like that. Unlike some people.”

“We sound like polar opposites,” Harry grumbled. “Adults can take care of themselves at the workplace. Why do they need to be coddled?”

“It’s not _coddling_ to be nice to your employees, Harry,” Cisco said with an exasperated shake of his head.

“Tess also felt like being nice to employees mattered. That’s why she handled everything in that arena. After she—it fell to me, inevitably, and I don’t have her gift.” He shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t want to help people succeed, Ramon. But if I spoke with every person who wanted my time at my company, I’d never have time to do anything. I’d be exhausted. I find people _draining_. I’m sorry that I’m not a charismatic extrovert like my doppelganger apparently is.” He shrugged. “I still don’t like him. He doesn’t feel anything like me.”

“Dude,” Cisco said, “why do you think I was so unsettled when we first met? You’re _nothing_ like him. Other than sharing a face, you two are so different you’re practically polar opposites. I still don’t know how you ended up being the one I like best.”

Harry made a face at him. “Ramon,” he said.

“Do you just decide whether I’m ‘Cisco’ or ‘Ramon’ depending on your mood?” Cisco asked. “It’s fascinating how often you switch.”

Harrison leaned in close, watching Cisco’s eyes widen as he got closer in proximity. “Ramon,” he said again, for emphasis, practically breathing it in Cisco’s ear. Cisco shuddered once, slightly, and Harry noted it for future reference. He turned and gestured at the list in front of them, still standing too close. “If we try to create a cold weapon, do we think we can get the components for a power pack on this Earth, or will we have to make modifications?" 

Cisco blinked at him. “What?” His eyes were slightly glazed, like his brain had derailed.

“The power pack components,” Harrison said again, trying not to smile. “Do you have hydrogen batteries on this Earth or will we need to replace those with something else?”

Cisco licked his lips and Harrison tracked the movement, temptation curling in his stomach. “We should uh, definitely replace them,” Cisco replied absently, leaning into Harry so that they were brushing against one another.

Dr. Wells’s words about himself and Cisco came flooding back to Harrison as he moved his hand slightly to rest it on the small of Cisco’s back, his fingers gently smoothly against the fabric of Cisco’s borrowed S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt. He attempted to keep them on task. “What would be a good power source similar to hydrogen batteries that we could get here?”

Cisco was already turning towards him, tilting his face up to gaze at Harry with half-lidded eyes.

Harry knew there were a million reasons he shouldn’t act on this, but he couldn’t help himself and leaned down, just slightly, enough that they were breathing the same air. They watched each other for one long moment, their breathing the only sound in the room. 

Before he could second guess himself, Harry closed the final inches between them, brushing their noses together before softly pressing his mouth against Cisco’s, tasting him gently. It was a far softer kiss than the one they’d shared two days before in Harry’s car, what felt like a lifetime ago.

Cisco made a small noise that felt like a punch in the gut, grasping Harry by the shoulders and pulling himself up on his tiptoes to catch Harry’s lower lip between his own, one hand going to the back of Harry’s head to run along the short hairs right above his neck. Harry switched the angle of the kiss to bite gently at Cisco’s bottom lip and was rewarded with a soft moan, Cisco pressing his slight body firmly against Harry’s, Harry’s hands flying to his side.

Time flew by like it barely existed. Harry hoisted Cisco up onto the makeshift desk, scattering their sketches of the speedster weapon, and reveled in the way that Cisco seemed to drink each kiss in like he was starving for them. It had been a long time since Harry had kissed anyone, before Cisco, but he didn’t remember it being this good, leaving shivers up and down his spine. His heart was pounding in his ears, nerves and arousal singing through him, the feel of Cisco so good against him that he never wanted to pull away, never wanted to stop kissing that generous mouth.

There was a sudden knock at the closed door of Cisco’s room.

They broke apart hastily, both breathing heavily. Cisco looked positively debauched, with bruised cherry-red lips, flushed cheeks, and hair tangled from Harry’s inability to keep his fingers out of it for more than five seconds. Harry was sure that he himself didn’t look much better.

He stepped out of Cisco’s embrace and tried to gather himself, closing his eyes to will away the arousal that was coursing through him. 

The knock sounded again. “Wells. Cisco. Barry’s getting takeout for dinner for all of us and wants to know what we want.” It was Garrick, of course.

Harrison stalked over to the door and yanked it open, barking, “what?” Garrick surveyed him, looking surprised before his facial expression landed on a smirk.

“Sorry,” he said, sounding completely unapologetic. “Did I interrupt?”

“Tell Barry to get us Thai from ThaiTanic,” Cisco said, sliding off the desk and walking over to stand next to Harry, seemingly unfazed by how clearly he looked like he’d just been debauched. “I want drunken noodles. I’ve missed that place.” 

“There’s a Thai restaurant called ThaiTanic?” Harry asked judgmentally, raising his eyebrows.

“And get Harry the red curry chicken,” Cisco added. “That’s his favorite." 

“I can order for myself, Ramon,” said Harrison.

“Well, you decided to be judgmental about awesome restaurant names instead of putting in your order, so that’s on you,” Cisco told him. “Thanks, Jay. Let us know when the food is here? Bye.” He closed the door on Garrick’s smirking face before he could reply.

“Ramon,” Harry said, shaking his head. “You can’t—“ 

That was all he got out before Cisco wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him back down for more kissing. Harry got with the program almost immediately, backing Cisco up against the closed door and pressing their hips together, smiling into the kiss when Cisco made a high-pitched, desperate sound. There were reasons he wasn’t supposed to do this, he reminded himself even as he worked his fingers under the hem of Cisco’s sweatshirt, skimming his fingertips against soft skin and hearing Cisco gasp into their kiss. There were so many reasons, but it was hard to remember them when the blood flow in his body was definitely not headed for his brain.

Still, remembering his reasons existed was enough to provide a douse of cold water when Cisco’s hands landed on his belt. He moved Cisco’s hands away and reluctantly separated his mouth from Cisco’s, wiping it across the back of his arm before forcing himself to take a full step back. Cisco was watching him, eyes lidded and mouth red. “Harry,” he whined.

“Cisco,” Harry said hoarsely. “We can’t do this.”

Cisco’s mouth turned down into what could only be called a pout. The cuteness of the expression, in that moment, was too much for Harry; he turned away, running a flustered hand through his hair and trying to get himself back under control when all he wanted to do was fly apart. Something about Cisco made him feel wild, reckless, like there was nothing he couldn’t do, but Harry had lived enough in the world to realize that was just an illusion.

“You don’t know what the future will bring,” Cisco said sadly. “I know you think I’m going to leave you, or I guess now that we’re in my world, you’re going to leave me, but there has to be another solution. I could learn to breach like Reverb and jump between worlds. As Reverb said, there are no guarantees on any Earths. Are you going to let your fear hold you back from who you really are, from what you really want?" 

“Ramon,” Harry said sadly, feeling the slight crack in his heart, “I’m sorry.” He turned and went back to the schematics that had been hastily swept off the desk, picking them up and smoothing them out. He could feel Cisco’s eyes on him, but he refused to turn around and meet the intensity of that gaze. “Now, hydrogen batteries?”

After a long moment, Cisco rejoined him by the desk, clearing his throat. “We have lithium ion batteries here that should work almost as well. They’re not as stable as the hydrogen ones on Earth-2, but we can compensate by making the power pack from a different alloy.”

It was almost enough for Harry to convince himself that nothing had to change.

* * *

Harry and Cisco got to work bouncing ideas back and forth about ways to create an anti-speed force device in secret in the workshop, Barry Allen occasionally popping in to give advice. Harry mostly avoided his doppelganger. Garrick was quickly adopted by Snow and Raymond, who quickly got to work trying to solve the problem of his stolen speed. For a half day, it seemed like everything in that alternate universe was on track.

“I still don’t think this is going to work,” Harry groused, staring at the plans and the half of a prototype that they’d built for a cold gun. “The idea of using cold to slow down molecules only works up to a certain speed, and Zoom is too fast. We need some other way to slow him down.” He took the marker in his hand and threw it against the wall angrily.

Cisco rolled his eyes and walked over to lean over his shoulder and look at the plans. “You have a point. If cold isn’t going to work, we need a new way to influence the speed force. But you know what? We’re on a whole new Earth now.” He grinned. “Let’s see if we can find some inspiration.”

Harry stared at him, startled, but Cisco was already heading out of the workshop in the direction of the cortex, shouting for Caitlin. Harrison shrugged and put the plans aside to follow him; whatever Cisco was planning, he wanted to be there for it.

He found Cisco and Caitlin bent over a computer in the cortex, conferring over something. “Ramon, what on earth are you looking for?” he asked, and they turned and beckoned him over. 

“The metas that this team on Earth-1 have dealt with are different than the ones we’ve fought on Earth-2. More random and chaotic, rather than all allied with Zoom, and some of them have had different powers.” He pulled up a list of known metas onto the screen, which the S.T.A.R. Labs team had apparently been tracking. “I asked Caitlin if there were any she could remember that had any relation to velocity or time.”

“We have one,” she said. “Dr. Wells noticed him a few months ago after a lot of priceless family heirlooms were mysteriously misplaced around Central City. We found him on video footage and we think he can slow or stop time.” 

“He’s like a turtle,” Cisco breathed. He snapped his fingers. “The Turtle. That’s his nickname now.”

Harry sighed and massaged his temples as Garrick and Raymond wandered over to see what they were up to.

“You’re looking for a slow meta?” Garrick asked.

“The idea is, if we can figure out how he slows everyone down, we can figure out how to slow a particular speedster down,” Cisco said. “You know, steal their speed?”

Garrick looked intrigued. “If we could steal someone’s speed, could I use it to get my own speed back?” he asked.

“There’s a possibility that could work,” Harry said doubtfully, “although honestly our priority is using this against Zoom, Garrick. Any benefits to you would be on the side." 

Garrick’s face fell again, almost comically. “You’re still creating a device to use against Zoom? After we all told you not to?”

“ _You all_?” Harry said. “From where I stood, you and my doppelganger were the only two people who had an issue with it, odd since the only actual _speedster_ in the room didn’t.”

“I’m still a speedster,” Garrick snapped. “Just because my speed is gone doesn’t change that fact. The idea of a weapon that could be used against me doesn’t make me jump for joy, speed or no speed.” 

“What if it’s a weapon that could get your speed _back_?” Cisco asked archly. “What if we could steal _Zoom’s_ speed and give it to you?”

Garrick still looked doubtful. “I don’t like this.”

“It’s odd, Garrick,” Harry snapped viciously. “Sometimes I get the feeling you don’t want us to defeat Zoom at all.”

Garrick’s eyes flashed. “Watch yourself, Wells,” he hissed.

Cisco stepped between the two of them, holding his hands up to break up the oncoming argument. “Our first step is to catch the Turtle and figure out how he slows people down,” he said. “We are far from being able to build an anti-speedster _anything_ or steal _anyone’s_ speed without him. After we’re closer, let’s have this argument, okay?”

“Fine,” Garrick said sulkily. “But you know how I feel about this.” He turned and stalked back to the infirmary, his back a line of tension. Harry glared after him as he disappeared.

Caitlin pulled up something on the screen. “If the Turtle is a thief that likes to steal things of immense personal value, I think that this painting recovered from Markovia is the perfect target. It’s currently at Central City Museum, and they’ll be holding a gala this evening to celebrate it.”

Cisco grinned at Harry. “Then let’s set a trap.”

Allen was located in a nearby office and quickly roped him into the plan. Caitlin and Cisco hacked the museum’s ticket system to provide enough entrance tickets, and it was determined that Cisco, Harry, Allen, Snow, and Raymond would attend. Allen got the bright idea to invite his new girlfriend, and then they began putting together a plan, Harry jotting down notes on one of the dry erase boards.

Their plan for the evening was almost complete when Dr. Wells powered in.

“Dr. Wells!” Allen exclaimed. “It’s still so weird that there are two of you, I didn’t even realize you weren’t here. Come check out our plan.”

Harry and Cisco exchanged glances, Harry making a face. Cisco rolled his eyes, still having no time for Harry’s distrust of Dr. Wells.

Dr. Wells wheeled up to the white board, surveying it critically. “Why exactly are we trying to catch this meta?” he asked at last.

“He’s slow,” Cisco said. “You guys have a speedster problem. We have a speedster problem.” He shrugged. “It seemed like an obvious solution.” Without Garrick present, it wasn’t like there was anyone else to snitch about the plan to counteract the speed force, and Harry hoped Dr. Wells wouldn’t ask.

Unfortunately, his doppelganger was as smart as he was. “You’re still working on creating an anti-speedster device?” he demanded. “After everything we talked about?” He turned around to glare directly at Harrison, his gaze so angry that it made the hairs stand on the back of Harrison’s neck. 

“Between you and Garrick, I’m starting to think half of this team _wants_ these evil speedsters to roam freely,” Harrison spat.

“Harry,” Cisco said, putting a hand on his chest. Harrison blinked, his angry abruptly dissipated, and stared at Cisco in front of him. “Let’s find a way to work this out without escalating the situation, okay?”

 “I’m not _escalating the situation_ ,” Harry insisted.

Cisco rolled his eyes at him before turning back to the other Dr. Wells. “Dr. Wells,” he said patiently. “We promise that whatever we come up with won’t be used against Barry, and we can even make it so that any speed loss effect is temporary.”

“We can’t guarantee that,” Harry muttered. Cisco elbowed him in the side.

“We will _do our best_ to make sure that any speed loss is temporary,” he corrected.

Dr. Wells still looked doubtful.

“That maniac has my daughter,” Harry told him. “You can oppose it all you like, but I’m going to find a way to stop him and steal his speed before I rip out his beating heart.” 

“Woah, woah, _woah_ ,” Barry Allen said. “Look, we don’t kill people on this team, man.”

“Don’t listen to Harry, he’s excitable,” said Cisco. “We’re going to throw Zoom into meta prison where he belongs." 

“I’ll do what I have to do to get my daughter back,” Harry said with a growl. Dr. Wells was watching him again, but while Allen radiated confusion and horror, his doppelganger looked intrigued.

Harry turned back to the dry erase board, determined to ignore his discomfort and get back to their planning.

That was the moment that Zoom struck.

A slight electric charge and a blast of air behind him was the only hint that Harry had. Abruptly, he was flipped onto his back and pinned with a hand against his neck against the dry erase board. Everyone around him shouted in horror as the figure of Zoom loomed in front of them. He glanced around at the group and his covered mouth curved into a terrifying grin.

“Hello,” he said, in a tone that would have been pleasant if it hadn’t sounded like he intended to crawl over Harry’s grave. He glanced from Barry to Dr. Wells to Caitlin. “I don’t believe we’ve been acquainted. You can call me Zoom.”

Zoom shoved Harry against the whiteboard again, Harry’s head knocking against the surface and causing him to see stars. “Wells,” Zoom hissed, leaning close to his face. “I have eyes on you. I know what you’re up to." 

Harry’s eyes darted to Allen’s. Interesting that Zoom would risk knowledge of his deal getting out to the whole group – was this charade purely for the intimidation factor? Had the Earth-1 team even seen Zoom before?

“You don’t know,” Harry gasped out, not getting enough airflow from where Zoom had him grasped by the throat, “what I’m doing right now.”

“Right now,” Zoom hissed, “you’re planning to create a weapon to stop me.” He leaned in close, so close that Harry could feel his hot breath through his mask. A reminder, then, that whoever was behind the mask in that suit was still human. “It would be a shame if I had to kill your daughter. She cries so prettily, trapped behind bars.”

Harry saw red; he gathered all of his strength and kicked out at Zoom with both feet, shoving him away. Gasping for pure, fresh air once Zoom let him go, he slumped against the dry erase board. Cisco ran to his side, holding him steady. 

Zoom seemed unfazed by Harry’s kick. He zipped over to Allen, who looked shell-shocked. “And you, Barry Allen,” Zoom hissed. “I look forward to killing you.”

“Get away from him,” the other Dr. Wells commanded, the ice in his voice clear. He powered forward in his chair until his nose was practically against Zoom’s chest. “Get out of here,” he growled, completely unafraid, his hands curled into fists on the armrests of his chair. “This isn’t your Earth.”

Zoom turned to stare at him. “Another Wells,” he purred. “How interesting. You seem to be even less threatening than mine.”

“Appearances can be deceiving,” said Dr. Wells coldly. “Do you want to test that assumption?”

He gave Zoom an expression that could only really be called a smirk, and Harry realized in sudden, technicolor clarity – _Dr. Wells was not afraid of Zoom._

His doppelganger had something up his sleeve that meant he could take on Zoom. He _was_ , however, afraid of Zoom harming Barry Allen - so the ace up his sleeve could _not_ be the Flash.

He glanced around at the rest of the room, but no one else looked anything other than frightened – was it possible that no one else knew Dr. Wells’s secret, whatever it was?

Cisco pulled Harry closer. “Are you okay?” he murmured in his ear. “I can try to hit him with a vibe blast, but I doubt it will do much.”

Harry shook his head. “He’s here to intimidate, not to hurt,” he murmured back. “He wants us to complete our end of the deal, and he’s reminding us of that fact.”

Zoom and Dr. Wells were still staring each other down. “Be careful,” Zoom said. “The Wells from my world can attest that I’m a bad enemy to make.”

“If you’re after Barry Allen, you and I are already enemies,” Wells replied. “ _I_ am also not someone to antagonize.” Zoom leaned in until they were nose to nose, Dr. Wells refusing to even flinch. Harry was impressed despite himself.

Zoom turned back to look at Harry and Cisco. He pointed with one clawed hand. “Do _not_ forget the leverage I have over you, Wells,” he hissed. “If you continue along this path, Jesse will die.”

Then, in a burst of blue lightning, he was gone.

“Asshole,” Cisco growled, helping Harry unsteadily back to his feet. “Like you’ve forgotten he has Jesse for even one second since we’ve arrived.”

“What was _that_?” Snow asked, aghast.

“That was Zoom,” Harry said weakly.

Cisco sighed. “Surprise.”

“ _That_ was one of my nightmares made flesh,” Barry Allen corrected. “That’s the guy who’s trying to kill me?” He sat down heavily in one of the computer chairs. “Great. I’m not going to sleep ever again.”

“He’s not going to kill you,” Dr. Wells said, so firmly that even Harry almost believed it. “I’m not going to let that happen, Barry.”

Snow leaned down to the floor and picked something up. “I think this fell off of his suit when you kicked him,” she said, handing it to Harry. He took it and turned it over in his hand; it was one of the small, black lightning bolt insignia that were usually adhered to the sides of his mask. 

“It must have come loose without anyone realizing it,” he said. “Interesting.” He put it in his pocket, wondering if he could get Cisco to vibe off of it later, once they were all a little less shaken.

Cisco looked at the dry erase board again, his arm still around Harry’s waist. “Well?” he asked. “Are we still going after the Turtle?” 

The look on the other Dr. Wells’s face turned grim. He studied what they had on the boards thoughtfully.

“I’ve changed my mind,” he said, his voice low. “I’ll help you make an anti-speedster weapon. But _only_ to use against Zoom.”

“And the Reverse Flash,” Allen added.

Harry only caught the twitch in his doppelganger’s eyebrow because he was looking for it. “And the Reverse Flash,” Dr. Wells repeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this from BWI airport on my way to Denmark, so I don't know when the next part will be up! It may be a few days since I'm not sure how much down time I'll have this weekend. Stay tuned!
> 
> In the meanwhile, you definitely should follow me and talk about the Flash on [tumblr](https://saucy-kate.tumblr.com/). Thank you for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

Harry waited all afternoon to get an opportunity to grill his doppelganger about the encounter with Zoom, and finally got his chance a few hours before the evening began when Dr. Wells brought a tuxedo to Harry’s makeshift office-room.

“Cisco said he wanted you to join the mission tonight,” Wells said as he handed over all the necessary accessories. “I’m not going to dissuade you from attending the event, but you probably will want to take my chair.”

Harry glanced at him distastefully. “And what will you be doing while I’m off with your motorized wheelchair?” he asked.

Dr. Wells shrugged. “I’ll be monitoring your situation here along with Detective West,” he said. “I have a manual wheelchair I can use for the evening. It will be harder to explain why someone who looks like me no longer has my injuries.”

“It feels wrong,” Harry said. “Faking a disability seems like an easy road to hell.”

“Then how do you want to play it, Harrison?” Dr. Wells asked him, eyes narrowed. “Are you my cousin? My long-lost twin brother? This gala isn’t that big, but there _will_ be people there who recognize me, who recognize you, and you’ll have to have an explanation for them.” 

Harry frowned. “Are you saying it’s best if I stay back here?” He ran his fingertips along the soft fabric of the tuxedo, admitting to himself that most of the fun of attending such an event was going to be dressing up and going out with Cisco.

Dr. Wells watched him for a moment. “You’re a far simpler man than I originally thought, aren’t you, Harrison?” he asked, his voice low. “Two things seem to drive you – either saving your daughter or your feelings for Cisco." 

Harrison refused to be baited. “And you’re astoundingly complex,” he countered. “Why did you face down Zoom like you actually had the ability to take him out, _Harrison?"_  

It felt like the very temperature in the room dropped with the intensity of Dr. Wells’s glare. Harrison resisted the urge to take a step back; he had the sense he was suddenly in the presence of a predator.

“It was a bluff,” the other Wells said.

“I’ve seen bluffing,” Harry told him. “I’ve seen _myself_ bluffing. You were fully prepared to take him on, claws and superspeed and all. But that wouldn’t be possible unless…” he licked his lips, “unless you had something equivalent.”

Dr. Wells was watching him with a sleepy sort of look in his eyes. “What are you implying, Harrison?” he asked, shifting subtly into a defensive posture, as though he was ready to rise out of his chair at any moment. Harrison noted the stance and heard the rush of blood in his ears, suddenly realizing that he was in very, very real danger.

“Are you a meta?” he asked instead of making his actual accusation, the one he was suddenly 85% sure was right – _his doppelganger was the Reverse Flash_.

 He’d played it right, it seemed, because Dr. Wells visibly relaxed at the question. 

“Unfortunately, I wish I had the abilities to take on a meta like Zoom – he was pretty terrifying, wasn’t he?” Dr. Wells laughed self-deprecatingly. “Unfortunately, the only thing I’ve ever had is my ability to intimidate people. I’m glad it worked well enough to fool not only a sociopathic speedster but also my doppelganger.”

He was lying; Harry could feel it in his bones. Somehow, his alternate self was a speedster, an evil speedster, and was hiding it from the rest of the team.

What would it have been like, to have gotten that power for himself on Earth-2? To have been able to take out Zoom, to protect Jesse, to protect Central City? To fight alongside Cisco?

“Well, I hope if you do have a meta ability that you’re hiding from us, you’re using it for good,” Harrison said. “I would have given anything for such powers.” 

“Not everything,” Dr. Wells replied. He backed the chair away, heading for the door. “Think about the tuxedo, Harrison, and if you want my chair. If you decide not to attend, you can monitor the mission from the cortex with me.”

A thought occurred to Harry. “What about Cisco? If I have to worry about being recognized, doesn’t he as well?”

“Cisco’s not famous,” Dr. Wells replied with a wave of his hand. “It’s unlikely that anyone who knew him before will be attending such a gala. You can forbid him from going if you like, but he dragged Ronnie out of here earlier very excited to go shopping for an outfit.” Dr. Wells gave a fond smile, and Harrison glared at him.

“I suppose it can’t hurt,” Harry relented, although that was hardly going to stop him from worrying about Cisco.

Dr. Wells nodded once. “Sensible,” he said, “but don’t be too smart, Harrison.” He started back for the door before stopping right in the middle of the doorway and rotating his chair around to face Harry once more.

Harry rolled his eyes. “What now?” he asked.

His doppelganger watched him for a moment. “How do you think Zoom knew we were working on a plan to stop him?”

Harry froze. How _had_ Zoom known what they were up to? “He’s keeping an eye on us,” he realized, clenching his fist. Of course Zoom hadn’t let them loose on a parallel Earth with some vague threats and nothing more. “How is he keeping an eye on us?”

Dr. Wells shrugged. “It’s a good question, isn’t it?” he asked. “Think about it, Harrison. Whatever the answer, we need to eliminate his source of information before he strikes again.” With that last ominous statement, he finally wheeled away, leaving Harry alone in his room.

Harry closed the door behind him and sat on his bed pondering the tuxedo and his and Cisco’s situation.

There were two problems. The first was that Zoom was getting information about their plans somehow. That meant he was either using super speed to hide his presence while he spied on them, he had some sort of electronic surveillance, or he had a spy on their team.

  
The second problem was Dr. Wells. If his doppelganger really was the Reverse Flash, that made his and Cisco’s situation precarious. The Reverse Flash wasn’t their enemy, he was Barry’s, and Dr. Wells certainly hadn’t seemed to like Zoom, but that didn’t necessarily mean that Harry and Cisco wanted to purposefully ally themselves with him either.

On the other hand, Zoom had Jesse, and the longer Zoom could get information from Earth-1, the more danger Jesse was in. 

Harry didn’t realize how long he sat on his cot thinking about how to use his newfound knowledge of Dr. Wells to his advantage until there was another knock at his door. He answered, expecting to see his doppelganger again, and was surprised to see Cisco instead.

Cisco was dressed in a white shirt and dress pants with suspenders, his hair neatly styled around his face. He looked positively devastating, and for one moment, Harrison forgot all about Zoom, all about the Reverse Flash, even all about Jesse being missing.

“Harry!” Cisco exclaimed, all big smiles. “You’re not ready yet? We’re leaving in less than an hour.” He pushed his way inside and saw the tuxedo hanging from the rack in the corner. “Nice, Dr. Wells got you some threads.”

“Cisco, I can’t go with you,” Harrison said, trying not to stare at the way Cisco’s pants perfectly hugged his ass. There hadn’t been time for him to get anything tailored here – how on any Earth was that snug of a fit even possible?

Cisco turned and gave him a confused look. “Why not? I thought that was the plan.”

Harry pointed at his face. “Too recognizable.”

Cisco took a step back towards him, reaching up to run his fingertips along Harry’s cheeks before cupping his face.

“I don’t think you look like anybody but Harry,” he said, his eyes shining.

Harry swallowed and tried to bring his brain back online after Cisco’s touch shorted it out. “Unfortunately, there’s a whole planet of people here who don’t feel the way you do,” he told him, “and they will be confused if I show up at a museum event without a wheelchair.”

Cisco pouted. “It’s going to be boring without you.”

“You have to go catch the Turtle in action,” Harry said. Cisco ran his finger down the bridge of Harry’s nose, smiling slightly as Harry twitched and shivered. “ _Stop_ that.”

“Fine, I’ll go,” said Cisco. “I’ll drink lots of champagne and talk a lot about art I know nothing about. But when I get back, I want to see you in that tux.” He gave him a look. “You can’t spoil this entire night for me.”

If Harry was smart, he’d say no and send Cisco on his way, but Harry was still struck stupid by Cisco’s everything. “I think that can be arranged,” he murmured instead, and savored the way that Cisco’s mouth spread into a lazy smile.

“The Turtle better show up quickly,” he said, “because I’m just going to be waiting all night to get back.”

Harrison felt an answering stupid smile on his own face and didn’t even bother to hide it. “You’d better get out of here, Ramon,” he told him. “Your team will be heading out soon." 

“I should,” said Cisco. “See you later, Harry.” He removed his fingers from Harrison’s face, _finally_ , and left, shutting the door quietly behind him.

* * *

The mission to catch the Turtle was uneventful. In another world, in another life, perhaps it wouldn’t have been – the Turtle was able to render Allen’s superspeed relatively useless, after all – but the team discovered that Cisco’s vibe blasts were unaffected by the pulse wave that the Turtle could unleash, and Cisco was able to knock him out cold before he could get away.

Harry monitored the entire mission from the cortex, standing next to his doppelganger, the two of them tossing suspicious glances back and forth. Joe West joined them, but he seemed to sense that something was up between the two of them and gave them plenty of space. 

Once Allen zipped the Turtle back and stored him in the cells in Earth-1’s particle accelerator that they all called ‘the pipeline’, Harry excused himself from the cortex and made his way back down to his room, surveying the tuxedo still hanging up in the corner.

He sat heavily on his bed and stared at it for a long time. He knew he shouldn’t. He knew that he and Cisco were doomed, no matter how mutual this electric feeling seemed to be between the two of them. 

He closed his eyes and dreamed – if only it was just the age thing. If only it was just that Cisco was barely older than Jesse, that he was the founder and CEO of a rival company, that Harrison would be called a cradle robber by the press for the rest of his career. How simple it could have been, to fall in love with a beautiful young man and just…make it work. 

Cisco’s words from earlier suddenly rang in his ears. _“Are you going to let your fear hold you back from who you really are, from what you really want?”_ Was that what Harry was doing – was he letting fear keep him from something worthwhile just because he didn’t know how the outcome would be?

Was there safety in any romance? Were there guarantees anywhere? Tess had been as safe as could be, but a wayward driver on a rainy day had still stolen her from Harry and Jesse in the blink of an eye. 

Harry cursed and stood again, pacing in front of the tuxedo before starting to pull his clothes off. Cisco and the team would have returned already, and Cisco was probably already in his room, maybe even already asleep – Harry had spent a good hour brooding over the situation, and it was late. But despite this, Harry was starting to feel something deep in his heart, a strength he hadn’t encountered before – the knowledge that he was about to do something absolutely terrifying, but he was going to do it anyway because it was worth it.

He slipped on the trousers and tucked in the white wing-collared shirt - noting the differences between black tie formalwear on his own Earth – before donning the suspenders and waistcoat and fastening a pair of cufflinks that had been left with the ensemble. The team had left a small, slightly cracked mirror in his room, and Harry stood before it to tie his black bowtie. He surveyed his look, smiling slightly – he may have been twice Cisco’s age, but he cleaned up nicely.

He slipped on the shoes that Dr. Wells had left him and completed his outfit with the jacket, smoothing down the front of his ensemble. Then, quiet as a mouse, he slipped out to find Cisco.

A knock at Cisco’s door received no answer; he hadn’t yet returned to his room, wherever he was. Harrison frowned, not really wanting anyone else to see him dressed up, but he would resign himself to looking foolish in a heartbeat if it meant that Cisco would get some enjoyment out of it. 

He checked the cortex, which was empty – everyone had apparently gone home after the successful mission - and made his way to the workshops. The light was on in the room where they had been working on their anti-speedster weapon, and soft music was barely audible through the open door. 

Harry stood in the doorway for a moment, watching Cisco at the workbench, still in his own formalwear, the jacket thrown over a chair. He had his tongue out as he experimented with some sort of gadget, his brow furrowed in intense concentration. The music playing in the background was something similar to Earth-2 classical music, casting a soothing spell over the proceedings.

Harrison couldn’t stare any longer. He gave a small knock at the doorframe, and Cisco looked up, his face framed in the light from the lamp on his desk. “Harry,” he said, taking in the image of Harry in front of him, dressed up just for him.

Harry entered the room and walked up to him, unable to take his eyes off of him. “You wanted to see me in the tuxedo, so…” he started lamely. The surge of adrenaline from his room hadn’t faded, that knowledge that this was scary and he was going to do it anyway.

Cisco pushed away from the workbench, putting down the gadget, and walked the rest of the way to close the distance between them, his eyes shining again. “It was so boring without you, Harry,” he said. “I had champagne and caught the Turtle, but I didn’t get to dance with you.”

“I don’t dance,” Harry said, swallowing hard around the lump of emotion in his throat.

“Please,” Cisco scoffed, a second away from laughing at him. “You know you can’t say no to me.”

The truth rang loud in the empty room around them, and Harry knew he couldn’t deny it. Instead of replying, he studied Cisco’s face, enjoying the way he’d styled his hair, the laughter in his dark eyes, the rosiness of his lips. Sometimes Harry was so busy being maudlin about their relationship that he didn’t truly appreciate the man in front of him, and he was determined to start making up for that, right at that moment.

The soft classical music playing shifted seamlessly into something more synthesized and slow, a perfect dance number, almost as if Cisco had called it on cue. 

This was his moment. Harry stepped closer to Cisco and swallowed hard against the lump of emotion in his throat. Was he ready to take a leap of faith? 

Slowly, he reached out and took both of Cisco’s hands in his. “Dance with me?”

Cisco’s eyes were shining even brighter than before; how was that even possible? “You’re asking me?” he asked, surprised but pleased. 

“Do you not want to dance?” Harry replied with a teasing laugh. “After all that?”

Cisco shook his head quickly and wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck, reeling him in. Harry pulled Cisco’s body against him, his hands coming to Cisco’s sides as they swayed together to the soft melody.

For a long moment, Harry was mesmerized in the music, the feel of Cisco against him, and the scent of Cisco’s hair products. “This is ridiculous,” he found himself murmuring against Cisco’s hair.

Cisco tilted his head up so that they could make eye contact, never stopping their swaying. “Let me have this, Harry,” he said, his brow furrowed. “I think it’s nice. I don’t know what the future will bring, but I’m glad I get to spend these moments with you.” 

Harry watched his face helplessly, feeling like it wasn’t possible for a mere human heart to feel the absolute depth of feeling he felt for the person in front him. He could have stood there forever, Cisco in his arms, dancing to that slow music from an alien Earth.

He leaned in and quickly pressed his mouth against Cisco’s before his courage failed him, a gentle press of lips before he pulled away again, his face hot. The glazed look in Cisco’s eyes was too much; as soon as Harry pulled his mouth away, Cisco licked his lips, and Harry had to lean back down and kiss him again, slow and sweet, coaxing his mouth open gently, still swaying back and forth with the music in the background. Cisco responded perfectly to being kissed as he always did, seeming to savor the sensation, parting his lips so perfectly, sucking at Harry’s lower lip as they parted their mouths briefly just to bring them back together again.

Harry pulled away and leaned down to rest his forehead against Cisco’s. He was so warm he felt like he was going nuclear. 

Cisco seemed to take his pulling away as more of his reticence. “Harry, you’re in a whole new universe right now,” Cisco whispered. “You think there are rules here?”

Harry ran his fingers through Cisco’s soft hair, not sure how to explain the fear and adrenaline coursing through him, the sense of loss he was already preparing for, his newfound determination that maybe, _maybe_ this was worth it anyway.

Cisco pulled slightly away to study him, his brow furrowed. “What is it, Harry?” he asked, his voice gentle. It felt so strange, like a reversal of the roles they should have worn, to have Cisco so calm and sure, while Harry felt like he was going to fly to pieces out of fear, out of _longing_.

“The things I want,” Harry said softly. “It scares me how much I want them.”

Cisco looked up at him, open, waiting for him to continue. When Harry didn’t say anything more, he sighed heavily and rested his head on Harry’s chest, still swaying softly against him. 

“Let’s pretend for a moment that there are no parallel universes between us,” Cisco said after a long moment. “No Zoom, no doppelgangers, just Cisco and Harry, from the same world, living the same life. What do you want?” 

It was oddly similar to Harry’s own train of thought from earlier that evening. Harry closed his eyes again, unable to help imagining what he’d do, what it would be like. “I would take you out to dinner,” he said hoarsely. “We’d eat all the foods you love. We’d drink too much wine and stay too long, until they kicked us out at closing. I’d take you home with me.” Harrison could almost reach out and touch the vision of himself and Cisco, ordinary people who could just meet and fall in love.

“I want to hear more about this going home with you,” Cisco said, his eyes all pupil. 

“Once you came home with me, I don’t know if I’d want you to leave,” Harry said, hearing the words ring in the air, impossible to take back. He swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. “I think I’d want you to stay with me—with Jesse and I—forever.”

Cisco slowly swayed to a stop, the music fading out and starting the intro to the next song. “Harry,” he whispered. “Are you saying—?”

Harry took a step back from him, releasing him with a self-deprecating laugh. “I’m a foolish man who should have learned by now not to dream.” He swallowed again, hating the emotion thick in his voice. “I’m trying to let myself be okay with uncertainty, but…it’s difficult.”

“Harry,” Cisco said softly again, “what are you saying?” 

This had been a mistake.

Harry turned and fled from the workshop, back to the sanctuary of his room. He angrily changed back out of the tuxedo, still hanging it up to make sure not to make an enemy of his possibly-sociopath speedster doppelganger, before he slid into his bed and stared at the ceiling. It was a long time before he managed to fall asleep, and when he finally did, it was just to dream of Cisco’s dark eyes.

When he woke, there was a slip of paper slid under the door. 

In Cisco’s neat handwriting, it read, “ _I’d want to stay too_.”

* * *

Harry placed Cisco’s note in the small cupboard in his room with shaking hands. The dream of himself, Cisco, and Jesse living happily in a Zoom-free universe, seemed both heartbreakingly touchable and impossible to grasp. 

He dressed himself and went to Cisco’s room, knocking on the door. He didn’t know what he would say, what he would _do_ , but he felt nervous energy crackling in his palms. He knew he had to see him, he had to say _something_.

When Cisco answered the door, the look on his face banished all thoughts of following up on the note from Harry’s mind. “What’s wrong?” he demanded immediately, pushing his way in. Cisco let him in wordlessly and shut the door behind him before sitting heavily on his cot.

“I called my mamá,” he said softly.

Every protective instinct in Harry was screaming to come out at once, but he shoved them down; Cisco didn’t need him being overprotective at the moment. “What happened?” he asked, voice tight.

Cisco looked at his shoes. “She told me I was selfish, that it was cruel of me to pretend I had died. She didn’t believe that I was trapped in another universe. She told me not to make up stories.” His eyes were watery with unshed tears, but he seemed determined not to cry. “She said this is the last straw and I shouldn’t contact them again.” He blinked his eyes closed and a tear streaked down his cheek. Harry reached over, hating the feeling of being so helpless, and brushed the tear away with his thumb before taking Cisco into his arms for a long hug.

He eventually pulled away, tousling Cisco’s hair. “I’m sorry,” he murmured against Cisco’s ear, trying not to let his anger show. “They don’t know how lucky they are to have you back in their lives.”

Cisco sniffled and glared at the wall. “Any normal parent would be delighted to find out their dead son is actually alive, but I’ve always been a problem. As a kid I wasn’t interested in the things Dante was interested in, I wasn’t an artist, I wasn’t a prodigy. I’m an engineering genius, and most Puerto Rican families would be delighted to have that in the family, but we’re descended from musicians, _famous_ musicians, and we don’t _invent robots_.” The way he spoke, it was clear he was parroting someone else. “So I was the disappointment even before I told them I was bisexual. They didn’t really like that either.”

Harry still couldn’t believe that this shiny, modern-looking Earth had such backwards views. He kept his thoughts to himself, even though he was starting to become furious that Cisco’s own family didn’t appreciate him properly. 

“What about your brother?” Harry asked instead. “Is it worth it to reach out to him separately?”

Cisco was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know.”

“You won’t know until you try,” Harrison told him, calling upon every bit of emotional wisdom he’d gained from fatherhood. He still felt completely inadequate at emotional support.

Cisco reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the inexpensive Earth-1 phone the others had given him to use temporarily. “Harry?” he asked in a small voice. “Will you stay with me while I call Dante?" 

Even if he’d wanted to, it would have been impossible to say ‘no’ to that face. “Sure,” he said, sitting on the bed next to Cisco and pulling him against him.

Cisco melted into his side and typed a number into the phone, closing his eyes and counting to ten before he hit the call button.

Harry could vaguely hear ringing on the other side, then a voice answered. “Dante?” Cisco asked, his voice still small. Harry wished he could imbue him with strength, even though, with Jesse kidnapped, Harry himself didn’t have very much to give. “Dante, it’s me. It’s Cisco. I don’t know if you’ve talked to Mai but…I’m alive.” 

Even listening one-sided, it soon became clear that the conversation was going much better than Cisco’s attempt to reach out to his parents. The voice on the other end asked something that sounded like a question. “Yeah,” Cisco said into the phone. “You wouldn’t believe it, but the particle accelerator, it like blew me into another dimension. I’ve been trapped there for a year and a half.” Another sound like a question. “Yeah, Mai didn’t believe me. She accused me of faking my own death and spending the last year and a half on some tropical island with a _sugar daddy_.”

Harry was aghast. Ramon Industries may have been a new company, but Cisco had made enough money on his first military contracts that he was perfectly capable of being someone else’s sugar daddy, for goodness’ sake.

Cisco’s brother said something else on the phone, and Cisco reached over and squeezed Harry’s hand. “Yeah, I do, actually. She was off the mark about that but. I have someone.”

Harry swallowed hard.

“You won’t like him, he’s an asshole,” Cisco said with a laugh. “And Mai can never meet him because she’ll think _he’s_ my sugar daddy.” Harry was so glad to hear Cisco laugh. Deciding he was allowed, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to the crown of Cisco’s head before squeezing his hand back.

‘Are you okay?’ he mouthed. ‘Should I let you talk?’

Cisco nodded and made a shooing motion, but the smile threatening to bloom on his face made Harry smile too. He kissed him again, stood, and headed out the door, leaving Cisco and his brother to catch up on their own.

* * *

Harry spent the morning trying to figure out how the Turtle’s power worked. The Turtle, it turned out, was quite a piece of work. 

“I’ll find out what’s most precious to you,” the Turtle threatened, his voice calm and dangerous. “I’ll steal it from you. You’ll never see it again.”

“Too late,” Harry said grimly, thinking of Jesse, still prisoner in Zoom’s lair. “Since you can’t make good on your threats, why don’t you tell me how your power works?”

The Turtle glared at him. “You locked me up like an animal,” he hissed. “I won’t help you with anything.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Harry said, pulling out the biopsy gun that he’d stolen from Snow’s lab. He didn’t want to murder a man, even one as gross and despicable as the Turtle, but he’d realized long ago that there was no limit to the things that he would do to keep Jesse safe.

“Harry!” Cisco shouted, running up behind him and pulling him out of the cell, slamming his fist against the button to close the door as if putting a barrier between Harry and the Turtle would stop what was inevitable. “Harry—were you going to kill him?” He was panting, resting his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. “You can’t—you can’t do that!”

“Kill me?!” the Turtle exclaimed, falling back into the far end of his cell and sending out a slow pulse that bumped harmlessly against the dampeners.

Harry frowned at Cisco. “He’s our ticket to stopping Zoom and getting Jesse back,” he pointed out. “Plus, I’ve been talking to him for three hours, and he’s a scumbag.” 

“It doesn’t matter if he’s a scumbag, Harry! No killing! How will I get Barry and Dr. Wells and the rest of them to work with you if you murder a bunch of metas?”

Harry held up his hands. “One meta is not ‘a bunch’.”

“You’re crazy!” the Turtle hollered. “Aren’t you people supposed to be heroes?”

“Oh calm down,” Cisco told him. “I’m not letting him kill you.”

“Just a little?” Harry asked.

“What exactly are you trying to accomplish by Turtle murder?” Cisco asked in reply, holding out his hand. “Can we find a _non-lethal_ way to get the same information?”

Harry crossed his arms over his chest. “I want the key to how he removes the kinetic energy from objects with his powers. I was going to study his brain tissue.”

“Okay, let’s start by putting him through an MRI,” Cisco said. “Come with me to get Caitlin. I’m not leaving you alone with him, not when you’re all irrational.” He took Harry by the hand and dragged him from the pipeline. Harry made a face, but he was very bad at saying no to Cisco.

They were in the elevator up to the cortex when Harry remembered he still hadn’t filled Cisco in on his two revelations from the previous day. “About Dr. Wells,” he began. 

“I know, you don’t like him,” Cisco said with the wave of his hand. “I gotta say, there are two people wearing his face walking around. I just stopped one of them from committing murder and it wasn’t him.” 

Harry glared at him. “That’s not the point,” he said. 

“The _point_ ,” Cisco continued, “is that out of the two of you, one of you is irrational and the other one is acting normally.” He moved closer, taking Harry’s hands in his, pitching his voice lower, more soothing. “I know you’re worried about Jesse and you feel like a fish out of water here. I trust Dr. Wells, okay? I worked with him for two years before the accelerator sent me over to your Earth, he’s always been good to me.”

“Be careful, Cisco,” Harry said in reply. “Just because you knew who he was before the accelerator exploded doesn’t mean you know who he is now. It wouldn’t be the first time that loss has changed a man for the worse.”

Cisco sighed. “I’ll give you that, but let’s focus on not letting loss change _you_ for the worse, okay?” He stepped back again as the elevator dinged to a stop at the cortex level. A familiar figure in a wheelchair greeted them. “Dr. Wells!” Cisco chirped as he exited the elevator. “We were just talking about you. Harry doesn’t like you.”

Harry made a face.

Dr. Wells studied him for a moment. “The feeling is somewhat mutual,” he replied before wheeling away. Harry felt outraged. What had _he_ done to make _Dr. Wells_ not like him? One of them was possibly a sociopathic speedster, and it was _not_ Harry.

They located Snow in the bio lab/infirmary, where she was peering into a microscope and making sketches on a blank sheet of paper beside her. “Caitlin!” Cisco exclaimed as they entered. “Want to do an MRI for us?”

Snow looked up at them and blinked myopically, as though she was adjusting to the change in magnification. “An MRI? Of the Turtle’s brain?” Cisco and Harry nodded in unison. “I think we can manage that,” she said, pushing away from the microscope.

“We need to find a way to weaponize his ability to steal the kinetic energy from the space around him,” Harry told her. “Will the MRI allow us to do that?”

“Honestly?” Snow asked. “It will depend on what I find.” She grabbed a syringe. “Easiest way to do this is probably to sedate him. That way, you can remove him from the dampening field but he can’t use his power against us." 

“See, Harry?” Cisco said pointedly. “Look at us, finding a non-lethal, _humane_ way to figure this out.”

“Is it really that much more humane to perform experiments on a sedated man?” Harry asked.

“Than murdering him and stealing his brain tissue? Yes.” Cisco was apparently not going to budge on this point.

“Please don’t murder anyone on my watch,” Snow added. “I end up having to do the autopsies.”

Sedating the Turtle was easy; they added a sedative to his lunch and watched as he scarfed the entire meal down. Less than an hour later, he was out like a light. Cisco and Harry wheeled a gurney into the cell, where they loaded him on and strapped him in before wheeling him up to an abandoned lab on the fifth floor, where an MRI machine sat in waiting, Snow preparing the machine for use. Seeing it brought Harry back to when he and Cisco had initially scanned Cisco’s brain, what felt like almost years before. 

They wheeled the Turtle’s gurney into the scanner and then sat with Snow at the output screens, waiting as she ran the machine. A few minutes later, a scan of the Turtle’s brain began to load on the screen, different colored patches signifying something or other that Harry couldn’t quite discern – biological sciences were not his forte.

“Interesting,” said Snow, studying the scans closely. “If you look at this, the dark matter’s concentrated in his frontal lobe.” 

Cisco peered over her shoulder. “What does that mean?”

“It means that the Turtle is using that part of his brain to control his powers,” Harry answered for Snow. “And gives us a hint how to tap into similar powers artificially.”

“Since his powers essentially remove all the kinetic energy from everyone in a room, including speedsters, in theory you could create a device that would have the same effect,” Snow mused, pointing at the readouts. “But you’d probably need more information than this can give us.”

“What about a tissue sample?” Harry asked. “That would give us enough of a theoretical framework to start from.”

Snow frowned. “I can do a biopsy,” she said, “but that’s a bit more invasive than an MRI.” She was clearly uncomfortable with the idea.

“He’s a jackass anyway,” Harry said.

“ _Harry_ ,” Cisco hissed. “Whether or not someone is a jerk doesn’t determine if you can perform invasive procedures on them while they’re unconscious.”

“ _Cisco_ ,” Harry hissed back. “Zoom has my daughter and we have to stop him.” The thought reminded him that they still had to figure out how Zoom was keeping an eye on them. “Snow, once you’re done with that, can we look at the configuration for your security cameras around S.T.A.R. Labs?”

Snow and Cisco glanced at one another. “What are you looking for?” Cisco asked.

“Zoom discovered what we were working on yesterday,” Harry said with another glance at Snow. Trusting her was a risk, but he’d always made his hiring decisions on the whim of his gut and never been wrong – and he’d have hired Snow in a heartbeat. It seemed unlikely that she’d be a spy for Zoom. “I want to know if he’s been lurking around S.T.A.R. Labs using his speed. If another speedster has been hanging around here, the heat from the energy they generate would show up on a heat-sensitive overlay on the security footage.”

“But Barry zips around here all the time,” Snow said with a frown. “Won’t that create too much noise to locate Zoom?”

“Zoom’s faster than Barry,” Cisco mused, snapping his fingers. “That means he generates a different amount of heat. We should be able to separate the signatures out, right?”

Snow nodded. “Ronnie upgraded our security cameras so that should definitely be possible. I’ll see what I can configure for you once we’re back in the cortex.” She glanced back into the MRI machine at the Turtle. “In the meanwhile, what do we do about him?”

“We need to do a biopsy,” Harry insisted. “Only his brain tissue can reveal how he steals kinetic energy, and I need to know how to replicate that effect.”

Snow gave him a resigned look, like she knew he was going to persist until she said yes. “I can take steps to make it less invasive, but I still don’t feel like this is ethical.” 

“If it was your child who was in danger, wouldn’t _you_ do anything to get her back?” Harry demanded.

“Sorry,” Cisco said, stepping in between the two of them and pushing Harry back from Snow. “He gets all _Taken_ occasionally.” He put a hand on Harry’s shoulder and Harry closed his eyes, taking comfort in the contact.

“Why don’t we start with a blood sample?” Snow suggested. “That way you can study how his cells react but it doesn’t have to be completely invasive.”

“That will take longer—“ Harry started, but Cisco elbowed him in the side and gave him a Look. 

Snow was already gathering a syringe and a test tube from her tray, walking over to the prone body of the Turtle. She prepared his arm with an alcohol swab and withdrew the necessary blood to fill several vials, sealing them and handing them to Harry.

“Start your tests with this,” she said. “If you find anything, bring it to me and we’ll figure out the best way to convert it without hurting him.” Her gaze was stern. “No matter what Jay says, I feel like you’re a good man, Harry. Don’t compromise your integrity to get your daughter back.” Cisco nodded along with her, his eyes wide and imploring. It was hard to say no, in the face of those two bright-eyed stares.

Harry put the tube in his pocket. “I’ll start with this,” he conceded sullenly. “If I can borrow your lab equipment?”

Snow nodded. She and Cisco then took hold of the gurney, wheeling the Turtle back down to the pipeline and leaving Harry alone in the lab.

If he was going to compare the Turtle’s cells with someone with superspeed, he also needed a blood sample from a speedster. With the vial of blood in his pocket, he wandered back to the cortex in search of Barry Allen. 

Allen was with the other Dr. Wells, running tests on his ability to phase through objects. Harry didn’t even spare a glance for his doppelganger. “Allen,” he barked. “I need a blood sample.”

Allen glanced at him in surprise. “A blood sample?” he asked. “Caitlin has a ton of them in her lab.” He shrugged apologetically at Dr. Wells and led Harry into the infirmary. Sure enough, Snow had a rack of vials of blood in a small refrigerator under one of the desks, as well as a bunch of blood in IV bags. “She keeps them in case I ever get injured enough to need a transfusion,” Allen explained. “It’s unknown if I could get a transfusion from a non-speedster, so we take small samples of my blood every week to stock it up.”

“Slightly creepy, but practical,” Cisco piped up behind him, returning from escorting the Turtle to his cell.

Allen grinned at him as he handed Harry a vial. “It works. Are you going to use this to help with your anti-speedster weapon?" 

Harry wasn’t sure he liked how many people still knew they were working on that, not when there was possibly a spy in their midst, but both Snow and Allen were necessary to his plan, and whatever Dr. Wells was pretending to be, it seemed unlikely that his alter ego was allied with Zoom since he’d brought the problem up in the first place. “Keep this quiet,” he directed Allen. “Tell Snow that as well. Don’t even share the details of what you shared with us with Raymond or Garrick or West.”

Allen blinked. “You think there’s a spy,” he said.

Cisco was also watching Harry with a frown.

“It’s more likely that Zoom is just sneaking around keeping an eye on us himself, but yes, it’s a possibility.” 

The vials of blood procured, Harry used Snow’s lab to begin his experiment. He and Cisco bounced ideas off of each other about ways to test the Turtle’s blood, finally setting up an experiment where they combined the Turtle’s sample with Allen’s, another sample where they combined the Turtle’s sample with some blood drawn from Cisco, another where they compared the Turtle’s sample with blood drawn from Harry, and then two more with Allen’s sample combined with Cisco and Harry. It created enough of a gradient – meta to meta, meta to different type of meta, and then meta to human – that any discrepancies between the reactions to one another would come out in the results.

The samples mostly prepared, Allen announced that he had a date and disappeared in a flash. Cisco started setting up their data recording while Harry returned to the cortex, where Snow was diligently pouring over a heat map of the complex that she’d pulled up using the security cameras. Dr. Wells had wheeled over and was watching her curiously.

“I think I’ve found a way to isolate the heat from Barry’s movements. Since we know exactly when Zoom was here, I was able to measure the differences in their heat signatures, and I can remove the lower one from the display,” she said thoughtfully, pressing a few keys. 

Harrison glanced in the tension in the other Dr. Wells’s shoulders and realized that this situation had the potential to blow up in their faces. “Thanks, Snow,” he said, stepping up to the computer, “but I was actually wondering if you could take a second look at our experiment and see if we’ve missed anything. Cisco’s still in your lab finishing the setup.”

Snow looked surprised. “Of course,” she said. “You should be able to configure the heat maps further from here without much trouble. If you have any questions, let me know.” She smiled and headed for her lab. That was fortunate, because Harry suspected that if she revealed _two_ more speedsters had been running around S.T.A.R. Labs, she was probably going to end up mysteriously dead that night.

“We’re going to find that two speedsters besides Allen have been running around this complex, aren’t we?” Harry his doppelganger asked in a low, dangerous voice once Caitlin was out of earshot.

“Interesting that your first instinct is to protect Caitlin from that knowledge,” Dr. Wells said with a smirk. “Are you really so scared of me?”

“So you admit it,” Harry said. “You’re not just a meta. You’re a speedster.” He pressed the key that Caitlin had indicated, and Barry Allen’s movements around S.T.A.R. Labs vanished, leaving two other heat trails. One was extremely hot and matched the readings that Caitlin had picked up for Zoom. The other was in the middle of the two values, and covered far more of the building than Zoom’s.

It was clear from the heat map that Zoom had _not_ been running around keeping any eye on them, which meant that Harry’s first instinct had been right – someone in their group was informing on them.

“You know, I could kill you right where you stand,” the other Dr. Wells said idly.

Harry turned to watch him, sensing the danger in the air. “I know you could,” he said. “But without me, it’s going to be much harder to protect Barry Allen. That’s your end goal, right? You need Allen alive for something.”

Dr. Wells gave him a Mona Lisa smile. “That would be telling, Harrison.” He wheeled away from the screen. “I’ll leave you alive for now, and I know I can’t stop you from telling the truth to Cisco, but no one else finds out.”

“We could use your help,” Harry said. “Against Zoom. Another speedster would be…incredibly useful. You’re faster than Allen. You have a better chance of taking Zoom out." 

Dr. Wells laughed, an ugly sound. “Oh trust me, fighting Zoom is in my destiny,” he said. “But now? Or years from now? Or simply as a time remnant? That remains to be seen.” He began to wheel out from the cortex. “I may end up helping you if it helps me,” he added right before he reached the elevator.

Harry glared after him. It was really a shame that he’d been born such a sociopath on this Earth.

He grabbed a flash drive and saved the data from the heat maps before deleting them completely off the computer they were working on, storing the flash drive in his pocket. He’d need them later, to prove to Cisco that Dr. Wells really was a speedster, but if anyone else from Earth-1 discovered them, they’d be in terrible danger.

Around dinner time, Harry was finally able to get Cisco alone again. Everyone else had gone home, leaving S.T.A.R. Labs mostly empty – even Garrick was nowhere to be found. Cisco had parked himself on a couch in the speed lab, eating noodles out of a take-out container while watching a movie on one of the monitors. Harry walked over and sat beside him after a long moment of watching him.

“Where’s Garrick?” he asked. 

Cisco grinned at him mischievously. “He’s with Caitlin and Ronnie. Again. I think they’ve adopted him.” He wiggled his eyebrows so that his meaning could not be mistaken.

Harry was disgusted. “Really? _Garrick_?”

Cisco shrugged. “Have you seen his muscles? I respect their choices.”

Harry glanced around again, confirming that they were alone, before he leaned over to speak against Cisco’s ear in a low voice. “There’s been a development. Your Dr. Wells is a speedster.”

Cisco shivered and looked over at him, his eyes going dark. “If you’re going to whisper things in my ear, can you at least make them sexy?”

Harry schooled his face into a frown, even as heat pooled in him. “Ramon. I’m serious. I have proof, _and_ he admitted it to me point blank.”

Cisco turned to face him, his small face serious as well. “You think he was turned into a meta during the particle accelerator explosion like the rest of us?”

“It’s possible, but I think he’s the Reverse Flash.”

Cisco blinked. “The speedster who killed Barry’s mother fifteen years ago?” He looked alarmed. “Does that means Barry’s in danger?” For only having known each other for two days, Cisco and Barry had gotten pretty bro-y together. Harry suspected Cisco missed having friends his own age. 

“Whatever my doppelganger’s identity, protecting Barry Allen seems to be his current end goal, so I think we have time to deal with him later. For now, he definitely does not like Zoom and he’s not happy about Zoom encroaching on his territory. I think we can use him.”

Cisco was clearly still thinking through the implications of what Harry was telling him. “If Dr. Wells has been a speedster for fifteen years,” he mused, his face blanching slightly, “that means he was one when I was working for him. That means everything I’ve known about him is a lie.”

Harry hadn’t really thought through how Cisco would feel about that, even though he’d put the pieces together earlier. He reached out and pulled Cisco back onto the couch. “Ramon. Cisco. Listen to me. No matter who your Dr. Wells was when you worked with him, he was real, okay? His ‘secret identity’ doesn’t take away from the fact that he was your mentor, your,” Harry made a face, “your friend.”

Cisco nodded, but he wasn’t making eye contact, his eyes darting around the speed lab in a way that implied he was internally freaking out. Harry put his hands on his shoulders. “Cisco,” he said again. “Are you okay?”

Cisco took a long moment before nodding. “Yeah, I think so,” he said, some of the tension in his shoulders melting into Harry’s touch as he met Harry’s gaze again. “I just…it’s hard to believe.”

“Our number one priority right now is Zoom,” Harry reminded him. “We have time to figure out how my doppelganger became a meta and what his plans are. Right now, we need to use him like we’d use any tool at our disposal. If this experiment with the Turtle doesn’t work out, he may be our only option.” 

Cisco nodded, clearly unhappy with the situation. “This sucks, Harry,” he said, leaning into a hug and burying his face in Harry’s shoulder. Harry blinked for a moment before hugging him back.

On Earth-2, Cisco had seemed almost like a peer – he was young, yes, but he was also independent, brilliant, and charismatic. Here on Earth-1, alone and vulnerable, Cisco seemed much younger, much more easily derailed by family and friends and former mentors who ended up being speedsters. This was why Cisco had seemed not to have any baggage, Harry realized – it was not because he actually lacked any, but instead because all of his baggage existed in another universe. 

Harry held him for a long heartbeat before releasing him. Cisco smiled tentatively up at him. “Sorry. I’m okay. Do you want to watch a movie with me?”

He settled back on the couch so that Cisco could unpause his movie. It was one Harry had never seen before, something from Earth-1 that didn’t have an Earth-2 equivalent, and Cisco took great joy in explaining the plot to Harry with copious hand gestures, even though the vacant look in his eyes made it clear that he was still thinking about Dr. Wells’s secret identity.

Harry pulled Cisco against him, smelling his hair and reveling in their bodies pressed together. He wanted _so much_ , and he knew Cisco did too. It would be so easy to close the gap between them, to kiss the uncertainty and the sadness off of Cisco’s pretty mouth, to lose himself in this and forget for _just a moment_ that Jesse was captive, alone in the lair of a madman. 

Instead, Harry pulled away, smoothing Cisco’s hair down. If they were going to do this, they were going to do it right. He was not going to use Cisco to run away from his problems, and he was not going to let Cisco use him for the same thing. When they came together finally, it was going to be as two whole people, not the broken halves that Harry felt like they were at that moment.

He pressed a kiss to the crown of Cisco’s head and curled up next to him on the couch, letting Cisco’s presence wash over him. The yearning didn’t fade, but it was muted somewhat in the face of everything they were up against, and if Cisco had any thoughts about the way Harry desperately held onto his hand through the rest of the movie, he didn’t feel the need to share.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, as always!


	11. Chapter 11

Morning arrived sooner than Harry expected. He awoke from a fragmented nightmare about Jesse with a crook in his neck and a horrible muscle pain in his back from sleeping curled up on the couch with Cisco in his arms.

He groaned and pulled away. Cisco blinked a bleary eye open at the disruption. “I’m too old for this,” Harry muttered. 

Cisco readjusted them so that he could continue to cuddle up to Harry, pulling Harry to him and curling his face into the crook of Harry’s neck. It was nice. He hadn’t slept with another person like this since Tess, and he’d forgotten how _nice_ it was.

Cisco murmured into his skin, “your heart is racing.”

Harry could feel it too, the remnants of his nightmare coming back to him. “I had a dream about Jesse.”

Cisco made a sleepy yet sympathetic-sounding noise. “D’you want me to vibe her again?” he asked, his face still shoved into Harry’s neck. 

Harry’s fear from his nightmare swiftly shifted into anxiety. What if he’d had foresight? What if Jesse was hurt? “Can you?” he asked, hating how small and weak his voice sounded. Cisco raised himself on one elbow, eyeing Harry with drowsy, half-lidded eyes. He yawned and it almost split his face open.

“Sure. Lemme go find my goggles.” He rolled off of the couch gracelessly and stumbled out of the speed lab, leaving Harry with a burst of such fondness that he found himself slightly breathless.

He lay on the couch stretching his aching legs until Cisco returned with the goggles, looking a little more awake. Cisco grinned and gently climbed back into Harry’s embrace without asking, pressing their bodies flush and cuddling aggressively into him before putting on the goggles.

“Is this a new Vibe technique?” Harry asked pointedly. 

“Nope, this is called, ‘cuddling with my boyfriend while I try to vibe his missing daughter’,” Cisco said, sticking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth in concentration as he reached over and placed his warm hand on the skin of Harry’s shoulder, sliding under the collar of his oversized shirt.

Harry’s breath caught in his throat. “Boyfriend?” he asked, hating how unsure his voice sounded. “When did that happen?”

Cisco gave a breathless laugh. “Isn’t a better question, when didn’t that happen? You’ve been my boyfriend for months, Harry.” The vibe must have taken hold, because he suddenly went stiff in Harry’s arms, gasping. “Oh man, I’m full-on vibing right now.”

“Do you see Jesse?” Harry asked, desperation clear in his voice. “Is she okay?”

“I’m in Zoom’s lair,” Cisco narrated. “Zoom’s there telling Jesse about how he’s going to kill you, and she’s yelling angrily at him about how nobody gets the best of you. She’s mad as a wet cat, but she’s still okay.” 

Harry felt a swell of pride. That was his Jesse Quick.

“Let me see if I can figure out where they are,” Cisco continued. “I’m going to try to _zoom out_ ,” and he chuckled at his own joke. Harry rolled his eyes even though Cisco couldn’t see him do it. “His lair is in some creepy cave at the top of a huge cliff,” Cisco said after a moment. “Looks like it would be hard to access without being a speedster or a Reverb.”

“Where’s the cliff?” Harry asked. “Can you locate Central City in relation to it?”

Cisco furrowed his brow in concentration. “I’m trying to zoom out again,” he said. For a long moment, nothing happened. “Damn, I lost it.”

Harrison pulled the goggles from Cisco’s face and smoothed his hair back. “Thank you,” he murmured. “I’m glad she’s still okay.”

Cisco beamed up at him. “I’m just happy I can help.” He fixed his pupils on Harry’s mouth, tentatively moving forward to see if Harry would stop him. Harry froze as Cisco pressed their mouths together, taking a moment to come back to himself before arching into him. Once he’d gotten with the picture, Harry kissed Cisco back, firm and thorough, mapping Cisco’s mouth with his own.

Cisco shifted them so that he was straddling Harry’s waist, catching his hands in the fabric of Harry’s shirt to pull him closer. Harry’s hands flew to grasp Cisco by the waist and pull him in closer, their kisses growing deeper as they relaxed into one another. 

Cisco broke them apart to lean back on his weight and reach for the hem of Harry’s shirt, and something sharp poked Harry in the thigh. “Ow,” he muttered, blinking back to reality. He pulled his hands from Cisco’s hips and reached in between them to pull something out of his pocket.

It was the lightning bolt insignia from Zoom’s suit. He’d totally forgotten he’d picked it up when Zoom had been threatening them a day and a half before.

“This is Zoom’s,” Harry said, trying to bring his brain back online despite having Cisco flushed and panting in his lap. “I meant to have you try to vibe it.”

Cisco blinked and took the insignia from him. He reached over the edge of the couch and grabbed his goggles from where he’d laid them gently on the floor. “Let’s give it a try,” he said with a cocky grin, perching the goggles on his nose. “Here goes nothing.”

For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, Cisco began to speak.

“I know this place,” he murmured into the heavy air of the speed lab. “It’s Caitlin and Ronnie’s condo.” He sounded puzzled. Harry was less confused, however – one of them must be the spy. Had he misjudged Snow after all? “Caitlin and Ronnie are watching a movie…I can’t tell if this is the past or the future.” He wrinkled his nose adorably. “Jay just came out of the kitchen with popcorn and joined them. Why am I getting this weirdly domestic scene from—“

He cut off mid-sentence, his spine going completely straight in Harry’s arms. Harry held him steady and stroked down his back in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. “What do you see, Cisco?” he murmured.

“It’s Zoom’s lair,” Cisco whispered. “Caitlin’s there, chained up.”

“Are you sure it’s not Killer Frost?”

Cisco shook his head once. “It’s definitely Caitlin. She’s crying, something about Ronnie.” He visibly blanched. “Oh god, I think Ronnie’s dead.”

“Ramon, stay calm. This is the future. You’re not actually there. We can fix this if you figure out what’s going on.” Harry continued to stroke down his spine, trying to calm him.

“Zoom just appeared.” He wrinkled his forehead. “He’s walking up to her, but he doesn’t have his mask on, he’s—“ Cisco’s eyes widened in shock. “He’s—“

He flew out of the vibe all at once, pulling his goggles off and tossing them aside. His wild eyes latching on to Harry’s as he reached out for him and clasped Harry to him, gasping.

“Harry, Jay Garrick is Zoom.”

It was like the room fell away in shards.

The rage that Harry always had lowly percolating in his gut suddenly roared to the surface. “ _What?!_ ” he demanded. “ _Garrick?!”_

Before he knew it, he was on his feet, Cisco still splayed on the couch in shock. Harry started for the door – his pulse gun was in his room, and he was going to need that.

“Harry!” Cisco shouted, pulling himself up from the couch to run after him. “Harry, _no!”_ He caught up to Harry in the hallway and spun him back around. Harry couldn’t even make eye contact; he was sure that Cisco would see immediately how out of control he was, how much he needed to _hurt Garrick_. “Harry, if you reveal that you know who Jay is, Jesse will be in horrible danger.”

Harry blinked at him, barely taking in his words. “What?”

“ _Think about it!_ He’s here to keep an eye on us, right? To befriend Team Flash, to make them trust him, and distract all of us until he can bring his metas over here to invade? If you blow his game wide open, what does he have to lose anymore? Jesse’s a useless pawn unless Zoom’s using her to hold your strings.”

Harry growled once, feeling so much anger in his body but without an outlet for it. “That asshole _kidnapped my daughter—“_ he said helplessly, furious tears threatening to fall. “I could rip him limb from _limb_.”

“And it’s kind of sexy when you get this angry and overprotective, but you have to lock it _down_ ,” Cisco said urgently, shoving Harry against the wall and standing aggressively in his way. “You’re going to endanger _all of us_ if you go off half-cocked.”

Harry threw his head back against the wall and growled once more, feeling the futility of his anger and hearing the truth in Cisco’s words.

Cisco pressed him into the wall, holding his wrists, and Harry gave a full-body shudder at the feeling of being pinned by Cisco. He frowned furiously; now was _not_ the time for this.

“Harry, we can’t do _anything_ until we finish our anti-speedster weapon,” Cisco said. “So why don’t we go check our experiment?”

Harry closed his eyes, grounding himself in the feeling of Cisco’s body against his, of Cisco holding him firm against the wall, concentrating on the flare of heat he felt with Cisco’s hands encircling his wrists. “You’re right,” he admitted with a long, helpless sigh, his fury breathing out of him.

“If we see Jay, you _can’t_ react. Your daughter’s life depends on you not giving away what you know.” 

Harry clenched his fist. Cisco was right, of course, and it was his steady wisdom that had attracted Harry to him in the first place, along with his wild brilliance and glossy hair. “I know,” he gritted out. “I can pretend that my animosity towards Garrick isn’t anything more than it normally is.” He thought through the implications of Garrick being Zoom – of Garrick always having been Zoom. “He’s been playing us for _months_ ,” Harry realized.

“Yeah,” Cisco said morosely. “He’s a colossal jerk. But we have one advantage over him, now. We know who he is.”

“Why pretend to be the Flash?” Harry wondered. “Why pretend to be useful when he was really sabotaging everything?”

“Didn’t you accuse him of just that, though?” Cisco pointed out. “Several times? I can remember so many fights where you threw it in Jay’s face that Zoom was benefiting from his incompetence. I always felt bad for him, but now…”

Harry raised his hands, Cisco letting go of his wrists once he started to pull at his hold. Harry cupped Cisco’s face in his hands, enjoying the feel of his silky hair against his fingers. “I can do this,” he promised, almost even believing it was true. “I won’t murder Garrick on sight, I promise.”

Cisco gave him a small, hopeful smile. “We’re going to save Jesse,” he promised, confident and firm, before reaching up to give Harry a short kiss that contained so much tenderness that Harry felt like his heart was beating out of his chest. 

He released Cisco and watched as he stepped back, finally letting Harry move away from the wall. Reaching out, he grasped Cisco’s hand in his.

“C’mon,” said Cisco. “Let’s go check our experiment.”

* * *

The experiment worked better than they could have imagined.

The sample that mixed the Turtle’s and Allen’s blood had found that the Turtle’s blood cells had slowed Allen’s hyper-fast cells to a barely-moving speed, draining them of kinetic energy. The Turtle’s blood had done the same with Harry and Cisco’s samples, slowing them down, but the effect was much more pronounced with regards to Allen.

“That means that the Turtle’s power actively drains the kinetic energy from speedsters and blocks access to the speed force,” Harry said, snapping his fingers. “We can use that.”

“Okay, so how do we weaponize it without dragging the Turtle along with us to Zoom’s lair?” Cisco asked, tapping his foot.

“I may be able to help with that,” a voice spoke behind them. Cisco jumped, letting out a small squeak. Harry turned to level his doppelganger with a warning glare, but Dr. Wells didn’t seem to care that he’d startled them. “You’re trying to create a weapon that will block Zoom’s ability to access the speed force, correct?”

“Right,” Harry confirmed. Cisco glanced between the two of them, the distrust that he felt about Dr. Wells after Harry had told him about him being a speedster clear on his face. Cisco had never hidden his emotions well. “What we have to figure out is how to replicate the Turtle’s ability in a device.”

“Like a grenade that steals the kinetic energy of any speedster within its vicinity,” Harry mused. “Something like that could work.”

Dr. Wells powered his chair closer to them to look at the results of their experiments on the monitor. “Interesting,” he said. “And if I help you manufacture such a device, how do I guarantee that it won’t eventually be used against me?" 

Cisco pointed at him, aghast. “You really _are_ a speedster?!”

Dr. Wells leveled Harry with a look. “Didn’t you tell him?”

“I did.” Harry put his hand on Cisco’s shoulder, trying to be steadying, even though he himself was still shaken over Garrick’s betrayal. Cisco leaned into his touch and Dr. Wells watched them, a small smirk on his face. Harry glared at him. “He didn’t believe me.”

“I didn’t not _believe_ you, it was just a lot to process,” Cisco insisted. 

“So how do I guarantee that your device won’t be used against me?” Dr. Wells asked again, studying them both. “I assure you both that just because Zoom is a greater threat right now, you should not discount the amount of damage I can do.”

“Way to reward a guy for loyally working for you for years and almost getting killed for it,” Cisco muttered. Harry squeezed his shoulder.

“If you tell Barry Allen who I am—if you reveal to him how to manufacture and use whatever I help you create—I will do worse than kidnap your daughter,” Dr. Wells threatened. He glanced behind him into the cortex and then stood up from his chair – Cisco’s jaw dropped, but Harry wasn’t that surprised – to loom next to Harry, looking him straight in the eye.

It wasn’t his universe; this sociopathic version of himself could be dealt with later, especially if they got an anti-speedster weapon. “We won’t use it against you,” Harry told him, unsure if he was lying.

The other Dr. Wells began to vibrate his hand at a speed so fast that it was no longer clearly visible. Harry watched him, perplexed, until he grabbed Cisco and held that hand extended over his chest. “Do you know how easily I could reach in?” he asked, almost conversationally. Cisco stared at him in betrayed outrage. “The cardiovascular system is electrical; the electrical impulses generated by super speed can stop a heart in its tracks.” Harry felt the rush of adrenaline searing through him, frozen, meeting Cisco’s terrified stare.

“We get your point,” Harry snapped.

For some reason, his voice seemed to snap Cisco out of his frozen state; his eyes narrowed, and a moment later he fired a vibe blast that sent Dr. Wells flying back into his chair. “I _trusted you_ ,” he said in a plaintive tone, eyes shining. “I thought you _cared_ about me!”

Dr. Wells rubbed his mouth, his expression unchanging. “I do care about you, Cisco,” he said, his voice quiet.

“So you’d just threaten anyone you cared about if it suited your interests?” Cisco demanded, hands on his hips. The silence he received in reply was all they needed to hear. 

Harrison really did not want to think about the implications of Cisco and his doppelganger’s weird pseudo-parental relationship and what they said about his own relationship with Cisco. Instead, he held up a hand and said, “well, _this Wells_ cares about his daughter and needs to save her, so are you going to help us or not? Yes, I get it, you’ll murder Cisco and probably Jesse if we betray you.”

Dr. Wells nodded, seemingly satisfied. “I’ll help you. Zoom is…inconvenient for my plans, and I’d rather not deal with him directly.”

“What exactly _are_ your plans?” Cisco asked. “Take over a small country? Threaten to nuke the Earth to get what you want? Run for president?”

Dr. Wells laughed. “You make me sound like a supervillain.”

“If the shoe fits,” Cisco quipped. “I mean, you did just sociopathically threaten to murder me.” Harry wasn’t sure if it was a good sign or not that Cisco seemed to be retaining his sense of humor despite everything.

“Do you intend to eventually harm Allen?” Harry asked. He couldn’t help it; in the few days that he’d been on Earth-1, Allen was one of the few people who’d welcomed him into their midst with open arms. That kind of shining idealism was exhausting, but somewhere deep inside himself, Harrison also admired it. He didn’t particularly want to doom Allen to save Jesse. 

Dr. Wells shook his head. “I’d love nothing more than to kill the Flash, but unfortunately I need him alive.” He smirked. “That’s all you’re getting out of me.”

Harry glanced at Cisco, who was making a face at him. “Fine,” he said. “We could use your help.”

The three of them spent a good couple hours pouring over the Turtle’s blood sample with a fine-toothed comb, sequencing his DNA and logging everything they could that seemed connected to his powers. Dr. Wells seemed to have almost a preternaturally encyclopedic knowledge of the speed force, the kind of knowledge that Harry had been striving for before he’d been inadvertently cast into another universe, and he was able to connect a lot of the dots between the Turtle’s powers and what they were attempting to do with Zoom. 

“I think you can manufacture a bioweapon with the same properties as the Turtle’s cells,” Dr. Wells finally concluded. “If you could create a dispersal mechanism, then as long as the bioengineered compound hung in the air, any speedster would have their kinetic energy completely drained and be unable to access the speed force.”

“Oh man,” said Cisco, “like some sort of speedster tear gas.”

“Something like that,” Dr. Wells confirmed. “A grenade may work for this, but you also may be able to use a subtler dispersal vehicle.”

“Due to how fast Zoom is, whatever we used to disperse the chemical would have to be either almost instantaneous or undetectable,” Harry said. “It would also have to be able to compensate for concentrations of the compound in different-sized rooms and areas, ventilation systems, etc.”

“Basically, you need it to pack a punch,” Dr. Wells said. 

“Yes, and the area of the effect needs to be large enough that it gives us time to take Zoom down and cuff him with dampeners. It also can’t affect anyone who’s not a speedster.” 

Dr. Wells nodded. “I have no doubt that the three of us can pull something like this together. I’ll get to work manufacturing the compound if you two would like to work on putting together a dispersal method?”

“We need to know the weight and density of the compound you’re engineering before we can accurately predict dispersal patterns,” Cisco pointed out. Dr. Wells took a pad from Snow’s desk and jotted down some notes about the composition he was envisioning before handing it to Cisco.

“One other thing,” Harry said. “You can’t breathe a word about this to anyone else, especially not Snow, Raymond, or Garrick.” He couldn’t risk that Dr. Wells would do something stupid and go after Garrick before they were ready, so he kept their newfound knowledge about Garrick a secret. “We still haven’t figured out who Zoom’s spy is.”

Dr. Wells gave him a condescending smile. “Now Harrison, why would I tell anyone what I’m doing when it would give away _my_ secret?”

* * *

Harry and Cisco headed back to the workshop. “What are _we_ going to do about Jay?” Cisco asked in a quiet voice once they were in the elevator. He was clearly still shaken about their encounter with Dr. Wells, even a few hours later. 

“We’re going to make him think we’re manufacturing a device to steal the Flash’s speed here on Earth-1,” Harry told him. “Then he’ll assume we’re keeping up our end of the deal, and he’ll leave Jesse alone until we’re ready.”

“Once we have a device ready, we’ll want to move quickly,” Cisco pointed out. “Do you have a plan for getting into Zoom’s lair already, or can I suggest something?”

“I hadn’t thought that far,” Harry said, although he’d toyed with some ideas. 

The elevator dinged, letting them out at the workshop level, and Cisco continued talking as they made their way down the hall, careful to pitch his voice low. “The only person who can get us back to Earth-2 is Reverb. I’m starting to get more of a handle on my vibes – maybe being back on my real Earth is helping – and I think I could vibe him now. What if I lure him here, and then we convince him to breach us back to Zoom’s lair? He’s shown he’s not particularly loyal to Zoom, and if I’m wrong about that, the team here should be more than enough to stop him, even with his phenomenal cosmic powers.”

“That’s definitely a way we could get back to my Earth,” Harry said. “Then what?”

“Well, down a Reverb, isn’t it convenient that you have a perfect double?” Cisco asked, batting his eyelashes. 

Harry stopped in his tracks. “You want to impersonate Reverb,” he said flatly.

Cisco continued on and entered the workshop, calling back, “What’s wrong, Harry? Worried I’ll look too good in guyliner?”

Harry rolled his eyes and followed him in. Thankfully, nobody was in the workshop to overhear their conversation. “I’m _worried_ that you’ll put yourself in danger. There has to be another way.”

“Harry,” Cisco said firmly, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I’m a bona fide superhero. I may not have Reverb’s full toolbox of powers, but don’t discount what I’ve got.”

Harry reconsidered his position and walked over, putting his hands on Cisco’s shoulders. “And you are an incredibly impressive superhero,” he murmured, hating the fondness that crept out into his voice. Soon he was going to be writing sonnets about Cisco’s hair if he kept this up.

Cisco turned his face up, his desire for a kiss clear, and Harrison couldn’t resist leaning down, pressing his back into one of their worktables as he pressed their mouths together. Cisco wound his arms around Harry’s neck to pull him in closer, their hips slotting together and causing Cisco to make a small noise as he opened his mouth under Harry’s.

The feeling of Cisco’s body against his brought Harry’s arousal from 0 to 60, and he hefted Cisco up to seat him on the worktable where he could get a better angle. Cisco wound his legs around Harry, pulling their hips together and grinding. This time, it was Harry who groaned slightly into Cisco’s mouth. 

Someone cleared their throat behind them.

They broke apart immediately, Harry leaping back several feet and Cisco jumping off the table and smoothing his clothes and hair. Garrick was leaning in the doorway, a small smirk on his face, watching them gather themselves.

Oh god, he’d had a makeout session interrupted by _Zoom_.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Garrick said in a tone that implied he really, really wasn’t. “I just wanted to see if you were still working on the anti-speedster weapon we talked about." 

Cisco’s eyes were wide and startled, but the way he was watching Harry made Harry realize that Cisco was mostly worried about _him_. Cisco’s gaze kept Harry from reacting, even when all he wanted to do was wring Garrick’s neck.

“We’ve scrapped that idea,” he told Garrick, trying to act normal. “We’re trying something else now.”

“Oh?” Garrick asked.

“Don’t worry about it, Garrick, it’s not really anything you should concern yourself with.” Harry tried to sound vague, shifty, like he was trying to hide something from a fellow team member, something like trying to steal speed from Allen. “Let’s just say it will help me get my daughter back.”

“Interesting,” Garrick said. “Well, I can’t say I’m not happy you scrapped the speedster weapon idea. That could have been used against me, too. Caitlin and Ronnie are trying to help me get my speed back. 

“Well, I’m glad that Caitlin and Ronnie have been able to help you,” Cisco said brightly, almost too-brightly, but his awkwardness just sold the idea that they were working on something that the others couldn’t know about. It really was perfect cover that Zoom had asked them to steal speed from Allen – it excused so much of their erratic behavior.

“I’ll leave you to—whatever you’re working on,” Garrick said, heading back for the door. “Good luck.” He was gone a moment later, and Harry let out a long, relieved breath.

“Did we sell it?” Cisco whispered.

“He seemed to buy it,” Harry replied. “Jay Garrick is many things, but smart is not one of them.” It actually explained a lot about Zoom.

Cisco hid his face in his hands. 

“What is it?” Harry asked, surprised.

“Oh god,” Cisco mumbled, muffled by the hands covering his face. “Zoom just caught us making out.”

It was so identical to what Harry had been thinking that he couldn’t help laughing, the first time he thought he’d actually, truly laughed since Jesse had been abducted. Cisco moved his hands slightly to peer at him through his fingers. “I mean okay, I _guess_ it’s funny, and it’s better than like, Dr. Wells, _ew_ , but _still_.”

Harry pulled Cisco back over to him, feeling endlessly tactile now that he had permission to touch. “I thought the same thing,” he told him, all the feelings he had for Cisco threatening to burst through every word. Cisco pulled his hands away to grin at him. 

Once they got over the horror of being caught by Garrick, they quickly got to work passing ideas back and forth for a dispersal method for the solution that Dr. Wells was bioengineering. They freely used the dry erase boards for equations about the volume of the effect, knowing Garrick couldn’t decipher them, and Cisco sketched some ideas on a pad of paper they’d found.

They quickly found that using a detonation method would make it almost impossible to get the right density of the solution in the air, since it would immediately alert Zoom that something was amiss. In order to have the time to saturate the air with the compound, they had to ensure that it had a stealth release and that it was used in a smaller space. 

“We could design it almost like a pod,” Cisco mused. “With a remote release mechanism, so we can drop it somewhere near where we want to corner Zoom and then remotely set it off when it’s convenient.”

“That could work,” Harry said thoughtfully. “You said Zoom’s lair is in a cave. Do you remember any spaces in that cave that would be good for this?” 

Cisco thought for a moment. “The cells he uses for his prisoners,” he said with a snap of his fingers. “There were two that were encased in something like plexiglass. The third one, the one Jesse was in, was just a regular cell. The enclosed cells could work.” He blinked. “In the vision I saw of Caitlin, all of the cells were empty.” 

“Meaning we rescued Jesse,” Harry breathed.

“Also meaning that rescuing Jesse alone won’t save Ronnie,” Cisco reminded him. “We’ve got to stop Zoom, once and for all.”

Harry hadn’t really gotten to speak much with Raymond and he didn’t really care if he lived or died, in the long run, but he knew that Cisco was friends with him, so he supposed saving Raymond’s life was an acceptable second goal.

“What we really need to do is bring Zoom a prisoner,” Harry said thoughtfully. “A prisoner who can smuggle these devices on his body, drop them in the cell, and wait for Zoom to come inside.” 

“A prisoner like enemy number one Harrison Wells?” Cisco asked, suddenly blooming into a smile. “Brought in by Reverb, who caught him sneaking around?”

“We’d have to have a good story for why I disappeared from here,” Harry pointed out. “If I just show up, he won’t believe it.”

“Sounds like it’s time to have a very public and very loud fight about how you discovered a way back to Earth-2 and I won’t go with you,” Cisco said. “Then we’ll hide you in some abandoned office somewhere in S.T.A.R. Labs until we’re ready to do this. Jay will think you went back to Earth-2 without me, and it explains how Reverb was able to snatch you.”

“So we lure Reverb here and convince him to help us,” Harry said, running through the plan in his mind. “With the other Wells as backup?”

Cisco didn’t look thrilled about that, but he said, “that’s probably our best bet.”

“Then you impersonate Reverb and we use Reverb to breach us to Zoom’s lair with the story that you caught me trying to sabotage something and rescue Jesse. You can imprison me in his little enclosed cell.”

“Then, when he comes in to taunt you or threaten you, you whammy him,” Cisco said. “I like it.”

“There’s one risk,” Harry said. “A bad one. He could kill Jesse to make an example out of me.”

“So we’ll break Jesse out first and hide her somewhere. Jay’s here on this Earth anyway – we may be able to sneak in and wreak all sorts of havoc before he returns. Then I’ll say I caught you breaking Jesse out, she escaped, but I captured you.” Cisco shrugged. “It’s going to take improvisation, but I think this is a workable plan. What do we do with Zoom if we’re able to cuff him and capture him?”

“We kill him,” said Harrison immediately. 

Cisco looked outraged. “C’mon, Harry, we’re the good guys,” he said. “We need to take him to Detective West.”

“So the state can kill him?” Harry said. “Excellent, that works as well.” 

Cisco sighed and continued his sketches, disheartened but clearly deciding this wasn’t a fight worth having. Someday, Harry had a feeling their differing views on how to handle Zoom were going to butt heads, but that fight could wait until his daughter was back, safe and alive, rescued from Zoom’s lair.

* * *

Dr. Wells joined them in the workshop later in the afternoon, bringing with him a vial of a solution. He handed it to Cisco and smirked. “This should do the trick.” Cisco eyed it like it was a particularly poisonous viper. 

Dr. Wells powered his chair over to the dry erase boards holding their equations and frowned. “It actually ended up denser than I expected,” he said, reaching up to erase one of the numbers and replace it. “It should actually help your dispersal rather than hinder it.”

“That’s great,” Cisco said. “We’ve put together a pod to disperse it.” He removed the small plastic bulb that they’d been crafting from the table and handed it to Wells, who inspected it carefully, turning it over in his hand. 

“The specs,” he requested after a moment, holding his hand out. Harry rolled his eyes and handed him the pad with their sketches, which Wells glanced over at superspeed. “This should actually work,” he finally concluded, sounding impressed.

“Yeah, we’re both geniuses,” Cisco said tartly. “Thanks for your vote of confidence." 

“Next, we should test it,” Harry said. He leveled the same smarmy smile at his doppelganger that he’d had aimed at himself a few moments before. “We’ll need a speedster for a test subject.”

Wells made a face. “I suppose it’ll have to be me,” he said after a moment. “Follow me.” He grabbed the solution back from Cisco and wheeled out without any further explanation, taking the solution and the dispenser with him.

Cisco and Harry glanced at each other. Cisco shrugged. “I guess we follow him.”

Wells insisted on staying in the wheelchair as he led them to a huge underground room that probably had served as a storage warehouse in a past life. It was set up as a training course now, complete with mock-targets. “We trained Barry’s ex here,” the other Wells told them, giving them no other context before he stood up from the chair.

“Woah, wait,” Cisco said. “This room is huge and has high ceilings. Our slow juice isn’t designed to work in a place like this.”

“Slow juice?” Harry echoed.

“If you don’t like it, you come up with a better name for it,” Cisco shot back. Harry sighed and massaged his temples. 

“With the modifications I made to the density of the molecules, the solution isn’t going to rise to the ceiling but linger where it’s released,” Dr. Wells said, standing out of his chair. “It may even work in a room like this. It’s worth a try.” He opened the dispenser’s designated reservoir and poured some of the solution inside, closing it and placing it on the floor. 

Cisco pulled the remote out of his pocket and pressed the activation button. Soundlessly, the little dispenser came to life and began to release the solution, similar to a small humidifier. 

“It should take about five minutes to reach the concentration levels necessary to work,” Harry told Dr. Wells. “I hope you whipped up a lot of that, because we’re probably going to want to test this a bunch of—“ A flash of light and wind and Wells vanished, reappearing a moment later carrying a tub of the stuff. “—times.” 

Harry rolled his eyes, not liking the smirk he got in return.

“Speedsters gonna speedster,” Cisco said sagely. “At least we have proof it doesn’t work right away.”

They stood together awkwardly for the next few minutes, waiting for Cisco’s stopwatch to signal that enough time had passed for the air to be concentrated enough with the solution. Dr. Wells’s presence put a dampener on Cisco and Harry’s natural enjoyment of each other’s company, and neither trusted him enough to say anything truly important in front of him, although they did make a lot of faces at each other. Finally, _finally_ , the stopwatch beeped.

“Okay, Dr. Wells,” Cisco said, moving closer to Harry as though he was magnetically pulled into Harry’s orbit when anxious. “Try to go to superspeed." 

Wells nodded and zipped away. Harry sighed. 

“Yeah, we need to try a smaller space,” Cisco said. “This warehouse is just too big.”

Wells returned, looking completely unapologetic that their experiment had failed. “I thought the change in density would compensate for the side of the room, but apparently even _I_ make mistakes.” Harry found himself thankful that he only looked similar to the guy and doppelgangers didn’t also have the same personalities – he didn’t know what he’d even do with such an ego.

They moved to an empty office before repeating the testing process again, including the part where they stood in a circle awkwardly and tried to avoid eye contact with Dr. Wells. Thankfully, after the five-minute mark beeped, Wells straightened up and clearly tried to go to super speed.

He failed.

Cisco grinned widely and held his hand up for a high five, which Harry returned.

“That’s bizarre,” Wells murmured, lifting his arm and trying to vibrate it like he had earlier when he’d threatened Cisco’s life. Nothing happened – every part of him continued to move at normal velocity. “It really does work. It’s like I’ve been drained of the speed force.”

“We should also test how long the effect lasts for,” Cisco said, checking his stopwatch on his phone. “It’s still running. Dr. Wells, can you keep trying to reconnect with the speed force and let us know when the effect wears off?”

The effect lasted around fifteen minutes, meaning they had twenty minutes from the release of the solution until the effect wore off again. “That means we’re going to need several backups in case we can’t snatch Zoom with the first attempt,” Harry said grimly. “Although it’s likely this trick may only work once.”

Dr. Wells had zipped out of the room the moment he had his super speed back, almost as though to reassure himself that he could still do so. When he returned, he spread his arms out wide. “It seems to have worked.” 

His grandstanding was really starting to irritate Harry. “We noticed,” he growled. “Now it’s time to use this on Zoom before he has time to go after my daughter.”

They filled Dr. Wells in on the plan as they’d developed it. He didn’t seem enamored with the idea of Cisco posing as Reverb either, but he reluctantly agreed to back them up against Reverb once Cisco had lured him to Earth-1.

It was growing late in the evening by the time they returned from the warehouse level. Harry and Cisco headed straight for the workshop to manufacture a few more dispensers, while Dr. Wells wheeled off to do whatever it was that diabolical speedster maniacs did when they weren’t reluctantly on the side of good.

“Tomorrow we put our plan into action,” Cisco said as they sleepily finished up a third and fourth dispenser for their collection.

“It seems that way,” Harry said stiffly, filling each dispenser to the limit with the solution that Dr. Wells had provided.

Cisco sidled over and elbowed him in the side. “I guess we’d better orchestrate a loud fight at breakfast so that Jay thinks you’re returned to Earth-2,” Cisco said. “What do you say that we have it in the cortex?” 

“It’s a date,” Harry promised.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry stared at the wood grain of the former office door that now served as Cisco’s home away from home and was thankful that nobody had witnessed the fact that he’d been rooted in the same place for ten straight minutes, steeling himself to knock. His next-gen watch read ’12:01’, a reminder that he should be asleep, not bothering Cisco at midnight.

It should have been so easy. He’d spent the previous night with Cisco in his arms, and the day had been filled with several heated kisses that had left his head spinning. The next day, they were putting their plan into action, a plan that could very easily get one or both of them killed.

Cisco’s voice rang in his head, not for the first time.   _‘Are you going to let your fear hold you back from what you really want?_ ’ He flashed to the image of Cisco slow-dancing with him, those expressive eyes staring up at him. ‘ _You think there are rules here?’_ He couldn’t deny the fear that had burrowed deep into the pit of his stomach. He also couldn’t deny that there was no way he wanted to die without having tried to see this thing with Cisco through, no matter where it led him. He didn’t know if he believed in an afterlife, but he could imagine arriving at one and Tess swatting him and calling him a coward and an idiot. That was _untenable_.

Harry straightened his spine, took a deep breath, and knocked.

It took a few moments for Cisco to answer, almost to the point where Harry wondered if he’d been asleep, but when the door finally opened, Cisco looked at him mournfully with dark circles under his eyes. It was clear he hadn’t been sleeping at all. 

“Harry!” he exclaimed, perking up slightly and moving over to allow Harry entrance into his room. “You can’t sleep either?”

He was dressed in oversized pajama pants covered in what was clearly a college sports logo, probably borrowed from Raymond, and a huge white t-shirt. He looked ridiculous, and it took all of Harry’s internal will to not kiss him silly.

“I can’t sleep either,” Harry confirmed, glancing around the room and taking in the collection of spare parts scattered on the spare office desk in the corner. In lieu of dealing with his feelings, he wandered over to look them over. “What are you working on?”

Cisco lit up with a grin. “I’ve been thinking about those dampening cuffs you created that project a field that cancels out meta abilities, the ones you use with Detective West. We’ve never been able to pin Zoom with them before precisely because we can never get close enough, but what if we could put those on you when we bring you in? Bam, everyone is neutralized and we don’t even need the weird anti-speedster vapor from Dr. Wells.”

Harry shook his head immediately. “Absolutely not. You’d be compromised, too.”

Cisco pouted. “But it wouldn’t have as many variables.”

“Those dampening cuffs were designed to be used by non-metas against metas. The moment you have a meta on your team, the advantage is cancelled out.”

Cisco sighed. “I’m not a very useful meta,” he said mournfully. “Cancelling out my powers doesn’t seem like it would have that large of an effect.”

Harry studied him for a moment in the low light from the desk lamp. “Is this about breaching again?” he asked.

Cisco glanced down, not meeting his eyes.

Harry moved away from the desk to approach Cisco, standing so close that he could reach out and grasp the soft fabric of Cisco’s shirt. “Cisco,” he murmured, reaching down and lifting up his chin to make Cisco meet his gaze. “You are one of the strongest, most incredible metas we’ve ever come across. You haven’t unlocked all of your powers yet, but someday, you’re going to.” He wasn’t very good at comforting people, at healing the broken places inside of them; he hoped he was getting his point across.

Cisco stared at him for a long moment with an unreadable expression on his face before he threw his arms around Harry’s neck and pulled him into a hug. “God,” he gasped roughly in Harry’s ear, sending chills down his spine. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Harry Wells.”

Harry’s heartbeat rattled in his ears as he hugged Cisco tightly back, burying his nose in his sweet-smelling hair and closing his eyes against the surge of feelings. It was odd to think that months before, Cisco had been a young rival at a similar company who’d fallen into Harry’s orbit, and now he was this indispensable _person_ who Harry never wanted to let go of.

Cisco finally pulled back after several long breaths, still watching Harry with those eyes. “Harry,” he said quietly, “why are you here?”

Harry took another deep breath, trying to find the courage to speak as much truth to himself as he had to Cisco. Cisco waited patiently, clearly aware that Harry was working up to something, looking like the model of kindness. Harry wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve such a person in his life, a _second_ such person in his life, but he closed his eyes and promised himself that he would do whatever he could to enjoy whatever amount of time he had with Cisco, even if they would someday end up universes apart. 

“I’ve been…cautious,” he began, “about expressing. How I feel about you.” Cisco nodded encouragingly, a faint flush slightly visible in his cheeks. “I’m not good at this, at feelings. I never expected to meet anyone who made me feel this way ever again.” He reached over and pushed a lock of hair out of Cisco’s face, tucking it behind one ear. “When you’ve lost one love of your life to a freak accident, it never feels like there will be second chances. What I didn’t realize was,” he swallowed hard, “even when the second one comes along, having the courage to jump is _terrifying_.”

Cisco looked a bit dazed. “Are you saying I’m one of the loves of your life?” he whispered.

Harry rolled his eyes as though it should have been obvious. He reached out and took Cisco’s hand, placing it on his chest, right over his heart. “Ramon,” he said tiredly, needing a bit of distance from the intimacy of the moment. 

Cisco stepped forward, sliding his hand from Harry’s chest to reach up and cup his face. “We lead scary lives,” he said. “We fight bad metas and I have crazy powers and we’re from completely different Earths. I think being terrified is normal.”

Harry couldn’t help himself and laughed. “When you put it like that…”

“For the record,” Cisco continued, “I know Earth-1 is my home, but I don’t intend on living a life separate from you, Harry. You’re going to have a lot of trouble getting rid of me now.” He grinned, pulling Harry against him.

“I suppose I’ll have to survive somehow,” Harry replied, trying not to give away the desperate, hopeful fluttering of his heart. Cisco beamed at him and wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck, pulling him down into a sweet kiss with a side of desperation. The knowledge that the next day was going to change everything was clearly not far from his mind, and Harry found himself clutching Cisco to him as Cisco began to walk forwards. Harry let himself be guided until the backs of his knees hit the side of Cisco’s cot.

He fell back onto the cot and pulled Cisco into his lap while continuing to kiss him soundly. Cisco made a surprised little noise and then combed his fingers through Harry’s short hair, tugging slightly in a way that made Harry’s eyes cross. He broke away, panting, and kissed a trail down the side of Cisco’s mouth to the crook of his neck, taking the opportunity to suck a love bite into soft skin until Cisco whined and pulled their mouths together once more.

Cisco rolled Harry over onto his back, grabbing each of Harry’s wrists in his hands and pulling them above Harry’s head. He grinned into the kiss when Harry shivered beneath him. “I noticed earlier that you seemed to like that,” he murmured, biting a trail of kisses across Harry’s jaw, gently nipping at his earlobe. Harry felt electric, all of his remaining thoughts of trying not to become clouded by his feelings vanishing with his last brain cell. 

Cisco leaned down and yanked Harry’s shirt up over his head, tossing it off the cot before he went back to kissing down his neck, his touches almost feather light even as he held Harry’s wrists in a vise. Harry looked down at him, trying to focus. “Cisco, I—“

“Shh,” Cisco said, gently kissing his mouth. “Let me do this. I’ve wanted to for a long time.” He released Harry’s wrists so that he could kiss down Harry’s abdomen, smiling fondly when the muscles jumped beneath his touch. Harry couldn’t tear his eyes away, wondering if he was dreaming and just hadn’t realized it yet.

Slowly, Cisco took his time taking Harry apart, gentle and patient and beautiful in the low lighting from his desk lamp. Harry couldn’t tear his eyes from him, afraid if he looked away even for an instant that he’d wake up from the dream he was in.

After they were both spent, lying sweaty and sticky together, Cisco ran his hands along the planes of Harry’s face. “I imagined this a lot,” he whispered, “but nothing compares to the real life genuine article.” 

Harry gave him a small smile. Cisco leaned down for a lazy kiss, the urgency gone, and Harry kissed him back, tumbling Cisco’s lithe body beneath his.

He could have lain there making out for hours, and even the promise of an early start to a long day could not tempt them to sleep, not when they had each other to indulge in for the first and possibly last time. Harry tried to record every moment, every gasp and smile and laugh, in his mind forever, just in case the next day would steal those things from him for good.

* * *

The next morning, Harry awoke crammed onto the tiny cot, Cisco curled onto his chest snuffling slightly in his sleep, his hair an absolute birds’ nest. Harry blinked blearily and reached up to run his fingers through the strands, enjoying the feel of them.

Cisco blinked awake and glanced at him. “Good morning, sunshine,” he mumbled into Harry’s left pec, his mouth still slack with sleep. Harry felt himself smiling as he reached up and ruffled Cisco’s fluffy hair. It had been so, so long since he’d lain in bed with another person, naked and curled together skin on skin. With the day they had ahead of them, he wished he could stay in bed with Cisco forever, even with the lack of space on the tiny cot.

“What time is it?” he asked. Cisco flailed slightly around, reaching for the bedside table and grabbing his Earth-1 phone to display the time – 9:23. They’d slept in, which was unsurprising considering they’d been up half the night with one another.

Cisco stood up, shivering in the cold, and went through the bag of clothes that the team had brought him a few days ago to pull on boxers, skinny jeans, and a polo shirt that was also a little too big for him. Harry watched him fondly, his heart feeling like it was growing three sizes. Even in the tiny uncomfortable temporary room made of concrete and steel on an unfamiliar Earth, Harry knew that just having Cisco present was keeping him grounded and sane in the face of everything.

“Are you ready?” Cisco asked critically, surveying where Harry was still splayed out on his cot. “Not that I’m not enjoying the view, but we have to go have a very public fight and then hide you in the lab that Dr. Wells suggested.” 

Harrison sighed and rose from the bed, running a hand through his hair. “You’re not going out like _that_ , are you?” he asked as he pulled on his clothes from the night before. Cisco surveyed his outfit and gave Harry an adorably confused look until Harry pointed at his head. “You have sex hair.”

Cisco wandered over to the mirror. “Dude, you’re right. This is bomb, A-grade sex hair.” 

Harry grinned despite himself and pulled Cisco over to kiss him, morning breath be damned. They were a little distracted for a few moments before Harry finally pulled away and finished pulling on his clothes.

Harry left Cisco in the shared bathroom attempting to fix his hair and returned to his room to grab his backpack, pulse gun, and to change into the all-black outfit he’d worn when they’d originally been flung to Earth-1. Strapping the pulse gun around him, he headed back to the bathroom. Cisco’s hair had become a bit more presentable with the help of water, and he’d apparently twisted it into its natural curls to tame the unruliness, although it still looked a little bit like sex hair. Harry didn’t say anything. 

After they’d both brushed their teeth, Harry grinned into the minty kiss that Cisco gifted him with. “Ready to have a fight?” he asked. 

“Am I ready? To fight you?” Cisco asked with a cocky grin. “Any day of the week.”

They stormed into the cortex together like they were in mid-swing of a fight that was changing locations.

“So you’re just going to up and leave?” Cisco demanded as they exited the elevator. They’d checked via the security footage to make sure that everyone was present in the cortex before they’d emerged, and they’d caught Allen, Garrick, Snow, Raymond, and West all together. “You just find a way back to your Earth and it’s all, sayonara Cisco, it’s been good?”

“You’re twisting my words,” Harry spat. “You know that’s not what I meant.” It felt strange to be so vitriolic towards Cisco after the morning’s tenderness, but he knew they had to sell this performance.

“I spent _two years_ trying to get back here, Harry,” Cisco said. “I’m not leaving now. This is where I belong. I was born here. My family’s here.”

Harrison tried not to let the ‘fake’ words hurt, and reminded himself of Cisco’s very different words from the night before. He steeled himself. “No one asked you to leave, Ramon. But _I_ have to do what’s best to save _my daughter_.” 

“You found a way back to Earth-2?” Snow asked, cautiously approaching them.

“Yes, and _he’s_ determined to go,” Cisco said, pointing at Harry. “I pointed out that we need him here, but I’m not getting through to him.”

“This isn’t my world, Ramon,” Harry said roughly. “I’m sorry I have to leave this amazing Earth where I’ve been constantly locked in a lab to save my world from a _madman_ , but—“

“We’re going to stop Zoom!” Cisco insisted.

“When?” Harry demanded. “Next month, next year? After Jesse’s dead, murdered because he can’t get me to dance to his strings? No, I’m done playing this lunatic’s game.” He hefted the pulse gun, which he was still wearing along with his backpack.

Cisco was a surprisingly good actor when he wasn’t trying to cover up his emotions; his eyes were shining. “I can’t believe you’re just going to leave after _everything_." 

The look that Snow and Raymond exchanged with Allen told Harry that the ‘lover’s quarrel’ aspect of their little fight hadn’t slipped past anyone in the room. He didn’t particularly care. He was starting to care a lot less about who knew he was in love with Cisco as time went on.

“I’m sorry, Ramon,” Harry said roughly. “I have to go.”

“Fine,” Cisco hissed. “Then go." 

Harry nodded stiffly. He looked around at everyone else in the room; they all looked incredibly uncomfortable. He nodded at them all. “Good luck to your Earth.” He gave them a small little wave with two fingers before turning and heading back to the elevator.

He took the elevator to the lobby and then switched to a back stairwell, which was out of the view of the security cameras thanks to Dr. Wells, making his way to the lab that his doppelganger had indicated would be best to hide in. Even if Garrick was monitoring S.T.A.R. Labs through the security feeds, he’d think Harrison had left.

When he entered the designated lab, Dr. Wells was already seated on a lab table. “Ah, Harrison,” he said. The wheelchair was abandoned by the door, looking lonely by itself. Harry passed it with a grimace.

“It’s not a good look, faking a disability,” he said.

Dr. Wells waved his hand as though that didn’t matter. “A necessary evil.” He gave Harry a look as though he could see straight through him. “Have you and Cisco convinced the team that you’ve left for Earth-2?”

“We just did our best,” Harry said. He moved across the room to divest himself of his backpack and pulse gun, watching his doppelganger out of the corner of his eye. 

While waiting for Cisco to join them, Dr. Wells suggested a game of chess. They sat together at one of the lab tables and set up a board, retrieved from somewhere else in S.T.A.R. Labs at super speed. Harry and Dr. Wells were handily neck-and-neck when Cisco finally reappeared, dressed in his Earth-2 super suit, his goggles around his throat, and carrying the bag with the dispensers. 

“Wells vs Wells, huh?” he asked, gesturing at the chess board. “Who’s winning?”

“I am,” Harry and Dr. Wells answered in unison. Harry rolled his eyes and turned to face Cisco. “Are you ready to vibe Reverb and get started?”

Cisco glanced uncertainly at Harry’s doppelganger. “Dr. Wells, are you ready to use your freaky speedster powers to restrain Reverb so that we can get dampeners on him if he won’t cooperate?” he asked.

“You can’t kill him,” Harry added. “He’s kind of an asshole, so you might be tempted.”

“He’s still _me_ ,” Cisco countered. “Just like, if I’d been born in a shitty situation and decided I liked being evil.” 

“As I said,” Harry repeated, “he’s an asshole.”

Cisco seated himself at a workbench and took a deep breath. “Remember,” he said, “we have to convince him to betray Zoom and let us go to Earth-2.”

“He’s going to want to take over the world in return,” Harry argued again.

“I know he is,” Cisco muttered. “We’ll have to find something else he wants just as much.” Harry didn’t like how intrigued Dr. Wells looked at that.

Cisco put on the goggles, pressing the sides to activate them. “Oh man,” he said, “here we go.” He grinned. “First time vibing across universes!” 

Harry reached out and patted him on the back. “Find Reverb,” he instructed.

Cisco made an exasperated noise. It was clear that if he could visibly roll his eyes, he would. “I’m working on it. There he is. Hey, Reverb!”

It was like overhearing half of a phone conversation; obviously Reverb was speaking, but Harry and Dr. Wells had no idea what was being said. “Dude, calm down,” Cisco continued. “I want to take you up on your offer from the last time we met.” Another pause. “Nah man, it’s easier to talk in person. Can you breach to my Earth?” Silence, then a shaky laugh. “I haven’t figured it out yet, okay? Some of us are late bloomers.” 

The conversation went on for a few moments longer, devolving into some ribbing before Cisco took the goggles back off. “He’s on his way,” he said. As if on cue, the universe split open with a glowing blue breach in the middle of the lab, and a moment later, Reverb strode out like he was walking the catwalk in some multiverse fashion show.

“That hair is still terrible,” said Cisco. Reverb’s hair was up in his weird half-ponytail, and it still made him look different enough from Cisco that Harry was relieved. 

Reverb took off his own goggles so he could peer imperiously over the rims at Cisco. “At least I don’t have badly re-styled sex hair,” he smirked. He noticed the other figures in the room and pulled the glasses off completely, revealing his usual heavy eyeliner. “Now you have _two_ of them? Wasn’t one enough for you?”

“Charming as ever, Reverb,” Harry drawled. “Welcome to Earth-1.”

Reverb rolled his eyes in a Cisco-like fashion. “I’ve been here before, you know. Zoom had me doing recon and spying on the Flash awhile ago. This Earth is boring. Although I guess now it has two Harrison Wellses so of course _you’d_ like it, Vibe.”

Cisco rolled his eyes back in an identical fashion. “It’s not like I’m boning both of them, _god_.” Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing that Cisco would stop using the term ‘boning’, especially in front of Harry’s own terrible doppelganger.

Reverb glanced around the room and located a chair, pulling it to him and sprawling in it like he was stuck in the middle of high school algebra and too cool to learn. “What did you want, Vibe?” he asked. “Don’t give me more bullshit about ‘taking me up on my offer’, we both know world domination isn’t what gets your rocks off.” 

“See what I mean?” Harry said to Dr. Wells. “He’s an asshole.” Dr. Wells didn’t even glance away from Reverb; he seemed fascinated by the presence of another Cisco. If he hadn’t been a sociopathic speedster, Harry would have found it amusing. He just hoped that Reverb would behave and they wouldn’t have to use Wells to neutralize him. 

Cisco regarded Reverb for a moment. “Don’t you get tired of being on the wrong side?” he asked. 

Reverb raised one judgmental eyebrow at him. “The wrong side,” he repeated. “That’s quite a value judgment, Francisco.”

“Excuse me if I’m not into murdering people to get what I want,” Cisco replied. He pulled over another chair and sat in it backwards, leaning his arms against the back and facing Reverb squarely. “Let me put it for you this way, _Francisco_. We’re going to take out Zoom, with or without you. With your help, we can protect you and keep Zoom from retaliating against you. Without it? You’ll be running scared." 

Harry watched Cisco speak, mesmerized by his tone and his confidence and so, so thankful that the universe had brought him to the wrong Earth so that Harry could meet him.

“What happens when we take down Zoom and you’re not with us, Reverb?” Cisco continued. “You’ll be chased to the ends of the multiverse like a dog.”

“Who’s going to do the chasing, Francisco? You? You can’t even breach.” Reverb leaned back and smirked widely. “I’m not going to join your little band of do-gooders. It’s very cute that you seem to think our shared soul means you’ll eventually get through to me, but Zoom’s building an army. You take him out now, _maybe_ you stop it before it gains traction, but I’m not taking that risk.”

“Someplace deep inside yourself, you’re me,” Cisco said. Harry glanced at Dr. Wells, not quite sure that statement was necessarily true. “That means there has to be a way to get through to you. Nature vs nurture is bullshit. It’s circumstances that make us who we are, and that means you can change.”

“As can you,” Reverb countered. “Want to walk on the dark side?" 

“He doesn’t,” Harry said, cradling his pulse gun. 

“Wow, Wells, you’re a bit overprotective there. Which Wells are you?”

“He’s the good one,” Dr. Wells said cheerfully. A second later, there was a gust of wind and his doppelganger was standing above Reverb, one hand vibrating right above his heart. “I’m the one who can reach in and stop your heart whenever you like. Try to breach away. I’m faster than you are.” 

Reverb’s eyes went as wide as saucers. “Your doppelganger’s a _speedster_?!” he demanded at Harry. He fixed his gaze on the vibrating hand practically brushing the front of his leather vest. “There’s no need for the usual threat. I’m not going to rat you out to Zoom. I’m getting tired of being in his employment anyway.” 

Dr. Wells took a step back with a satisfied smirk, but he continued to watch Reverb like a hawk, an unsettling intensity to his gaze. Harry remembered his lewd comments about Cisco a few days before and wondered if he should intervene.

“Good,” said Cisco. He pulled out a single meta-dampening cuff. “Put this on.”

Reverb rolled his eyes again. “Is this _really_ necessary?”

Cisco ignored the theatrics and shook the dampener in his face. Reverb sighed and snatched it from him, putting the cuff on his wrist. “There, are you happy?” 

“Now take off your clothes,” Cisco added. Reverb gave a slow smirk. “I mean, your costume! Just like, your outerwear.”

“If I’d known that you just wanted me cuffed and naked, we could have done this _months_ ago,” Reverb purred as he began to pull off his leather jacket, flinging it at Cisco’s feet. 

Dr. Wells was giving him a look of approval. Oh god, Harry’s doppelganger _liked_ Reverb. Harry was going to have nightmares. To break the tension, he stepped forward and pointed his pulse gun in Reverb’s face. “Faster,” he growled gruffly.

“Yeah, yeah, Wells. I know you’re just trying to get in the pants of every Cisco you meet.” Reverb grabbed the hem of his black silk shirt, pulling it over his head sensually. Harry exchanged a glance with Cisco and rolled his eyes.

“Yes, make a show out of it,” said Dr. Wells. “Please.”

“No,” said Cisco, pointing at him. “That’s creepy. Don’t perv on my doppelganger.”

Shirtless, it was clear that Reverb was in slightly better shape than Cisco, with some definition to his abs. He smirked lazily at them, still in his leather pants. “The pants, too?”

“The pants, too,” Harry said, gesturing with his gun and refusing to make any sort of facial expression that might egg Reverb on.

Reverb grinned and leaned down to unlace the heavy combat boots that he wore with his leather pants. He toed them both off, knocking them to the side, before leaning back in a provocative position and unzipping his fly.

“You know, I never thought I’d get a striptease from myself,” Cisco said. “I might need therapy after this.”

“You’ll need therapy if I murder him in front of you, too,” Harry growled. He glared at Reverb. “Get to it.”

“It’s not like it’s anything you haven’t seen before. There’s no need to be in such a hurry,” Reverb said, sliding his pants over his hips. He was wearing black briefs under them – of course he was – which left little to the imagination. He pulled the leather pants neatly off of his legs and tossed them in the pile of clothing at Cisco’s feet, sitting there in his underwear with the cuff around his wrist. “There. Have at it.” 

“Thanks,” Cisco said dryly, grabbing up the clothes from the floor. He exited with the pile, leaving Reverb sitting with the two Wellses.

“So,” said Dr. Wells, almost conversationally. “What exactly are your areas of expertise?”

Harry shot him a look that should have murdered him on sight, but unfortunately he hadn’t yet learned to kill with his glare. 

Reverb stretched back, putting his arms behind his head. “Oh, you know. Interdimensional worldbending. Seeing the future and the past. Bothering my doppelgangers from other worlds. I’m pretty much a god.”

“And Cisco also has the ability to share these…godlike powers?” Dr. Wells asked.

“Oh yeah. We’re essentially the same.” Reverb leered in Harry’s direction. “Right, Wells?”

“No comment,” said Harry. 

“Fine, you stay over there. I’ll stay here with the fun Wells.” He tossed a eyelinered wink in Dr. Wells’s direction. Harry hated everything about the entire situation.

“I just threatened to kill you a few moments ago,” Harry’s doppelganger purred. “Why am I the fun Wells?”

“Maybe I have a thing for speedsters,” Reverb purred back. 

Harry shouted towards the door. “Ramon! You’d better change quickly before I murder both of them!”

Cisco, thankfully, emerged a few moments later wearing Reverb’s entire getup. He’d also lined his eyes with eyeliner, a look that was really doing it for Harry, even though he knew if he ever breathed a word of it in Reverb’s presence, he’d never hear the end of it.

Cisco tossed the pile of his discarded clothes into Reverb’s lap, covering up his unmentionables. “You can put these on if you feel like being modest.”

“You need to put your hair up,” Harry said, his voice coming out kind of funny. “Like his.”

“It’s so ugly though,” Cisco grumbled. He looked at Reverb. “Do you ever let the flow go natural?” 

“I’m more intimidating this way,” Reverb replied. “You try being a supervillain when everyone wants to pet your hair.”

Cisco produced a hair tie and stuck the corner of his tongue out of his mouth as he attempted to recreate Reverb’s hairstyle. Half of it fell out of the tie on the first try, and Cisco cursed. “What do you use to get that slicked-back look?”

“Gel,” said Reverb, sounding bored.

“Ew, you use gel on _this_ hair?” Cisco looked horrified. He looked at Harry. “I don’t have any gel.”

Harry shrugged. What did he know about hair? His did what it wanted and mostly lived as a wild nest on his head.

A gust of air and Dr. Wells was gone. “What—“ Cisco started. Dr. Wells reappeared with a bottle of generic gel, tossing it at Cisco, who caught it deftly. “You bought me gel?” he squeaked.

“Please. I _stole_ you gel,” Dr. Wells said, apparently no longer even _trying_ to pretend that he was any sort of benevolent father-type. “Remember, it’s also in my best interests that your charade pays off.”

“Right,” Cisco said. He popped open the bottle, grimaced, and spread the gel through his hair gingerly before washing his hands briskly in one of the lab sinks.

When Cisco turned back towards them, Harry took the hair tie off the table and stepped forward into Cisco’s space. “Let me,” he said softly, reaching behind Cisco’s head and gathering Cisco’s slippery gelled hair, pulling it into the same half-ponytail that Reverb wore in his own hair. Cisco breathed in deeply, like he was memorizing Harry’s scent.

When Harry was done securing Cisco’s hair, he dropped his hands to cup Cisco’s face for a moment too long, reassuring himself that even though the man in front of him _looked_ like Reverb, deep inside he was still his Cisco.

“Oh, very adorable,” said Reverb. “Yes, we all know you’re in gross goopy love.” He looked at Dr. Wells. “They were like this for _months_. You should have seen them, trying to debate on daytime TV and making doe eyes at each other instead. At least I had the foresight to record that program for blackmail.”

Harry ignored him. “Are you ready to do this?” he whispered to Cisco.

Cisco looked deep into his eyes, scared and determined and so beautiful, even in Reverb’s guise, that Harry’s heart skipped a beat. 

“I’m ready,” he said. “Let’s go save your daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost there!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys, we're so close to the finish line!!!

Reverb boredly removed the dampener at their request so that he could open a breach to Zoom’s lair on Earth-2. The looks he and Dr. Wells were exchanging with one another did not seem to bode well for Earth-1, but Harry decided that they would deal with that problem after they rescued Jesse. One issue at a time.

He was sure to take Cisco aside before they left and make sure he was aware of the stakes. “You know, you may end up trapped on Earth-2 after this,” he said.

Cisco nodded, the line of his mouth serious. “I know. We can’t guarantee Reverb will let us back here.” He shrugged. “That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? To be stuck on Earth-2, with you?”

Harry didn’t particularly want Cisco to ever feel trapped into a life with him, even though he remembered Cisco’s words from the night before. “We’ll get you back here,” he promised fiercely, meaning it completely. “If Reverb won’t let you back, we’ll keep training your powers, or we’ll find some other way to bridge the worlds.”

Cisco swallowed hard and nodded.

Reverb smiled theatrically as he prepared to breach to Earth-2. He’d finally put on Cisco’s borrowed clothes, but with his hair up and eyeliner on, he still looked completely different from Cisco. Harry was thankful for it. “All aboard the express train to Zoom’s lair,” Reverb announced, extending his wrists. A glowing blue breach appeared in the room, swirling ominously.

“That’s an incredible gift,” the other Dr. Wells murmured, walking around the breach to examine it. “You’re quite impressive, Cisco.”

Reverb smiled at him in a heartbreakingly ‘Cisco’ way. Harry also didn’t like that he answered to the name Cisco.

Harry’s own Cisco moved behind him with the handcuffs they’d modified, clipping them on Harry’s wrists behind his back. They would look and appear firm to anyone who tested them, but Harry himself would have the ability to get loose at any time. There were two dispensers for the solution in his cargo pants, and Cisco had two more stored in Reverb’s jacket, along with the remote. They were as ready as they ever would be.

Cisco looked at Dr. Wells and Reverb. “Don’t take over the world while we’re gone,” he said.

“Now there’s an idea,” Reverb purred.

“No,” said Harry, looking pointedly at Dr. Wells. “Whatever your plan is, if world domination factored into it, you’d have accomplished it long ago.”

Dr. Wells gave them an inscrutable smile. “Your breach is waiting.”

Harry nodded and turned to Cisco. He wanted nothing more than to take his hand stepping through the breach, but with the appearance of jailer and captive, they couldn’t take that risk. Instead, Harry stepped through the swirling blue first, Cisco behind him.

They made their way through the odd subspace between the worlds and emerged into a cave that came straight out of Harry’s nightmares, particularly for the fact that his daughter was locked in a cell in the back of it.

“Dad!” she yelled immediately when they appeared.

“Jesse!” he yelled back, but Cisco shoved him forward harshly, like he really was his prisoner, and Harry soon registered why; Killer Frost and Deathstroke were both standing there, warily watching the breach.

“Oh, did you bring us a gift?” Killer Frost asked gleefully, circling around Harry and Cisco. “A father-daughter murder combo?”

“Wells is for _Zoom_ ,” Cisco said with all of Reverb’s trademark haughtiness. “ _Not_ you.” It was a bit disconcerting, how easily he stepped into the role.

Deathstroke pulled Killer Frost back to him and gave her a long, open-mouthed kiss. “We don’t need to play with Wells anyway, baby,” he purred. Killer Frost grinned and kissed him again. 

Harry never took his attention off Jesse, watching her out of the corner of his eye even as Cisco shot the shit with Killer Frost and Deathstroke like he’d known them for years. Cisco was dismissive to both of them, which made sense considering that Reverb had such a high opinion of himself. Harry was also getting the impression that Cisco had done a lot more reconnaissance on Reverb than Harry’d realized during his time on Earth-2.

Finally, Harry was pushed forward once more, towards the cages that held Jesse and another mystery man. “Let’s go,” Cisco growled. “Time to put you away before Zoom gets back.” 

“What are we going to do about them?” Harry hissed as soon as they were far enough from Killer Frost and Deathstroke, who were whispering to each other and giggling.

“Don’t worry, I got this. Reverb scares the shit out of them. We’ve just got to get them out of here long enough that we can take out Zoom.” He then spoke louder. “Get moving, Wells. Stop dawdling.”

Jesse was at the front of her cell, her hands curled around the bars that held her in. “Dad, how did they catch you?” she asked, her face angry and determined.

“Stupidity,” Harrison said dryly as Cisco finally reached the little clear box next to her.

Cisco stopped and poked around the edge of the odd cage. He hissed at Harry, “how does it open? These are made of carbyne, not plastic or glass like I thought when I vibed.”

Jesse watched them, eyes narrowed. Thankfully, Deathstroke and Killer Frost didn’t seem to be paying any attention. 

Harry pretended to stumble backwards so he was closer to the little cell and ran his fingers along the edge. The material was indeed as firm as stone, definitely carbyne. Zoom was leaving nothing to chance. “Try along the back,” he suggested.

Cisco moved over to glance along the side, looking for a catch.

“Having a problem, Reverb?” Killer Frost asked with amusement in her voice.

“Of course not. I can handle Wells,” Cisco shot back, his voice a bit haughty. He continued to feel along the edges, his eyes a bit wide and frantic.

“These can’t be only accessible by speedsters,” Harry muttered. “There has to be some sort of mechanism.”

Cisco’s hand hit on something; there was a _click_ and the front panel of the odd cell swung open. “Yesss,” Cisco hissed, pushing Harry inside and securing the door again behind him. If Harry had had his hands free, he’d have wiped the sweat from his brow. 

Cisco then turned back to Killer Frost and Deathstroke. 

“The rest of their annoying little band of superheroes are still trying to find our lair,” he told them. “I trust you can head back towards Central City and take care of it?” 

Killer Frost jumped to her feet from where she’d been sitting in Deathstroke’s lap. “Oh, I am _on_ it,” she said. “Ramon and Rathaway won’t last a minute against us.” 

“We’re a killer team,” Deathstroke added in a deadpan. Harry rolled his eyes. 

“Then why are you still here?” Cisco asked, letting boredom seep into his tone and looking at his fingernails. Killer Frost and Deathstroke looked at one another. Abruptly, Deathstroke picked Frost up and flew from the cave entrance, and they were gone, leaving Cisco and Harry alone in Zoom’s lair.

“That was too easy,” said Harry. He turned to Jesse, who was watching everything with wide eyes. “Honey, are you hurt?” Cisco was starting to walk the perimeter of the cave, obviously getting his bearings.

“I’m fine,” Jesse said fiercely. “He’s not going to get away with this. We’re going to get out and take Zoom down.”

Harry was so, so proud that she was his daughter.

Cisco barked a laugh. “Not a superpower in sight and she’s still up for a fight,” he said. “She’s definitely yours, Harry.”

It took Jesse less than a second to connect the dots. “I knew you had to be Cisco!” she exclaimed.

“In the flesh,” Cisco said, his perimeter check finally bringing him back to the prisoners. “Bad news – there doesn’t seem to be any way out of here other than the cliff, which is a huge fall. This is a pretty effective inaccessible lair.” 

“So getting Jesse out before Zoom gets back isn’t an option,” Harry concluded, cursing. “And _we_ can’t get out of here, either.”

“There has to be a way,” Cisco said, clenching his fist. “Damn, when I saw he was in a cave, I just assumed there were tunnels out of here. I can try to vibe Reverb again.” 

The third prisoner started tapping on the surface of his cell, but they all just ignored it. 

“That may be our best bet,” Harry acknowledged. Cisco nodded and pulled out his goggles, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of Harry’s cell. Harry hoped that Zoom wouldn’t return while Cisco was so obviously vulnerable; with Garrick distracted on Earth-1, hopefully they would be safe for awhile.

Cisco attempted to vibe for a long moment before he took the goggles off and made a face. “I can’t reach him. Either the vibrations are off again or Reverb’s blocking me out. We’re stuck.” 

The third prisoner was still tapping, making it annoyingly hard to think.

“I guess Garrick is smart after all,” Harry muttered. 

“Garrick?” Jesse exclaimed. “Jay Garrick?”

“You’ve missed a lot,” Harry told her. “We’ll catch you up once we figure out how to get you out of here.” He turned to focus on Cisco. “You’ve got to take Jesse. Find a way to get down the cliff face with her, get her as far away from here as possible. I’ll take Zoom out myself.”

The tapping sound from the third prisoner grew louder.

“I’m not leaving you here to face Zoom alone,” Cisco said hotly. “No way, Jose.”

“Well, I’m not facing Zoom here while Jesse could be hurt or killed,” Harry replied.

“I’d like to see him try,” Jesse said fiercely. Harry appreciated how willing she was to jump into the fire, but she was definitely the most vulnerable person there.

The tapping from the third cell grew so loud that finally Harry’s annoyance broke through the careful reign on his temper “What _is_ it?!” he demanded, glaring angrily at the cell.

“He was here when Zoom put me here. He taps in some sort of code,” Jesse said. “We haven’t really figured out how to communicate well. I don’t know much about him.”

“Let’s find out,” Cisco said theatrically, heading to the far cell.

“This was not part of the plan,” Harry growled.

“He’s the enemy of our enemy,” Cisco pointed out. “I think that makes him a friend.”

Cisco used the same trick to open the other cell that he’d used on Harry’s and walked carefully up to the prisoner. Harry watched anxiously, his heartbeat echoing in his ears. Upon approaching him, Cisco reached up and carefully removed the iron mask that covered the prisoner’s face.

Without the mask, the prisoner was an older man, probably in his 60s, with kind eyes. He and Cisco stared at one another for a moment before the man said softly, “thank you.” Even his voice was kind.

“Who _are_ you?” Cisco asked.

The man gave them an ironic little smile. “My name is Jay Garrick,” he said. Cisco shot a confused look at Harry. Harry watched him carefully with narrowed eyes. “I know you know Zoom by that name. He stole it from me. I am—or at least, I was—the Flash.”

It seemed almost impossible. “We never had a Flash before Garrick, or whatever his name is, showed up,” Harry told him. “Nice try. Who are you _really_?”

“I’m not from this Earth,” Jay Garrick replied. “I’m from an adjacent one.”

“Not mine,” said Cisco, arms crossed. “I’m from Earth-1, and this is Earth-2.”

“Mine must be what you’d call Earth-3?” Garrick caught on quickly to the naming scheme. “Zoom crossed between worlds to take me out. He’s after all the speedsters in the multiverse.”

Harry snapped his fingers. “So you’re a speedster.” A plan was starting to form in his mind. 

They had no reason to think they could trust Garrick, but an unknown entity who was enemies with Zoom was a better option than the known quantity that _was_ Zoom. Additionally, stealing the identity of an actual hero seemed perfectly in line with the sick game that Zoom had been playing with them.

“If you're the real Jay Garrick, do you know Zoom’s real name?” Harry asked.

“He introduced himself to me as Hunter Zolomon,” Garrick said.

Harry felt a chill down his spine.

“I know that name. He was a serial killer, years ago,” he said in a low voice. “His trial was in the news. He was supposed to have been given the death penalty.” Synapses connected. “I wonder if I looked up his execution date – would it match with the night my particle accelerator exploded?”

“Bet you anything it would,” Cisco said. “Damn, you really _did_ create Zoom.”

Harry glared at him. “I already knew I created Zoom,” he said, “but thanks for the vote of confidence, Ramon.”

“Hey, I’m just saying.” Cisco put his hands up in the air.

“Garrick,” Harry continued, feeling weird calling someone else by that name, especially someone he didn’t hate on sight. “You’re a speedster? Can you get my daughter out of here before Zoom returns?”

Garrick’s face was thoughtful. “Jesse’s been a good companion during my captivity,” he said. “I’d be happy to do so. Let me just make sure my speed still works.” He zipped out of the cave in a flash. 

Cisco turned to Harry, his face hopeful. “This could actually work, Harry.”

Harry said nothing; he wasn’t going to hope until Zoom was cuffed and Jesse was safe. 

Garrick reappeared again a moment later, sagging to the floor in relief. “My speed still works.”

“We’d better get Jesse out, then,” Cisco said, moving over to Jesse’s cell.

After a little maneuvering, Cisco was able to get the metal bars open. Jesse immediately threw herself into his arms, holding on to him tightly. Harry watched them embrace, his heart in his throat while Cisco hugged her back, a wondering smile on his face. Harry closed his eyes and dreamed of a world where they could all be together, wanting it so fiercely it was hard to breathe.

Garrick suddenly went tense. “He’s coming,” he said. “I can sense him through the speed force.”

“Dad, I love you,” Jesse said, pressing her palm against the outside of Harry’s prison. “If I had time to hug you, I would. Don’t get killed.”

“I love you, Jesse Quick,” Harry said, pressing his palm against hers, only the carbyne separating them. “Get her out of here,” he said to Garrick. “Then come back for us after we’ve disabled Zoom in about twenty minutes.” 

Garrick nodded and took Jesse’s hand. They were gone in a blur, leaving Cisco and Harry alone in the cave.

Harry dropped the dispensers from his pockets in two separate corners of his cell, hoping the distortion from the walls of the cave would hide their presence from view. “Cisco, release it now,” he hissed. “If Zoom’s on his way, that’ll give it the time to saturate the air.”

Cisco nodded and pulled out the remote, whirring one of the dispensers to life. The other one remained quiet as a backup.

A blue flash appeared in front of them just as Cisco was fumbling the remote back into his jacket.

“Reverb,” Zoom purred. “This is unexpected.” His eyes caught on the cell with Harry inside. “Wells,” he said. “You caught Wells.”

Cisco quickly readopted the lazy body language of Reverb. “He snuck in and freed his daughter and the other prisoner before I could stop him, but I kept him for you. He’s your target anyway, right?” 

Doom looked at the other two empty cells and narrowed his eyes. “Where were Frost and Deathstroke? They were supposed to be responsible for the prisoners.” 

Cisco gave a theatrical shrug, like he didn’t know and didn’t care.

Zoom disappeared again, leaving Cisco looking somewhat stunned. He wasn’t gone for long, though – he reappeared with both Killer Frost and Deathstroke, dropping them in a pile in front of Cisco. “You've failed,” he growled. 

“What? No,” Deathstroke said, getting to his feet in annoyance. “Reverb said—“

“Jesse Wells and the prisoner are _gone_ ,” Zoom growled, pointing at the cells. “What do you have to say for yourselves?!”

Killer Frost and Deathstroke stared at the empty cells, then turned in unison to shift their suspicious gazes to Cisco.

“They were there when we left,” Deathstroke protested. “Reverb said he had everything under control. We—“

“Are you double crossing us?!” Killer Frost shrieked in Cisco’s direction. An icicle dagger appeared in her hand, and she lunged from her spot onto the floor at Cisco, who stepped aside easily, still playing his Reverb role.

Harry was trying to keep track of five minutes passing while also keeping an eye on the action. Luckily, it seemed like Zoom was distracted by the in-fighting between his minions.

“I don’t tolerate failure,” Zoom growled, advancing on Deathstroke. “You let _him_ get away?!”

For a moment, Zoom and Deathstroke stood toe to toe. With little warning, Zoom plunged one vibrating hand deep into Deathstroke’s chest, a horrible look of shock on Deathstroke’s face. His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the floor. 

Killer Frost turned from where she was advancing on Cisco to scream at the top of her lungs. She ran to him, cradling his lifeless body with tears streaking down her cheeks. “It wasn’t us! It was him! Reverb told us to leave, he said that Wells had allies!” She focused all of her fury on Cisco. “You got him killed! This is your fault!”

Cisco’s entire face was off-color, like he was going to be sick.

Zoom turned on his heel and stalked towards Cisco.

“Have you finally decided to betray me, Reverb?” he growled. He glanced at Harry in his cell. “Are you working with Wells now?”

“Work with _him_?” Cisco said incredulously as Zoom backed him against one far wall of the cave. Even from far away, Harry could see how huge his pupils were, how obviously terrified he was, but Cisco didn’t back down from playing his role. It felt like Harry’s entire heart was in his throat. They still had a couple more minutes before the slow compound would be concentrated enough.

Killer Frost was holding Deathstroke’s body and openly weeping now, her thick makeup smearing with her tears. “You killed the wrong person!” she yelled at Zoom. “Reverb’s the one that betrayed you!”

Zoom’s vibrating hand moved again, but Cisco hit him with a vibe blast before he could strike, sending Zoom to the floor. It didn’t keep him off-balance for long; Zoom zipped back and held Cisco by the throat, growling. “You think you can take me on, Reverb? You think you deserve to be the god of the multiverse instead of me?” 

Harry could feel in his stomach that Cisco was about to die.

“Hey!” he yelled, breaking through the chaos that was going on in the room outside his cell. “Zoom! Did you forget about someone?”

Zoom turned to look at him, dropping Cisco in a heap on the hard ground.

“Wells. I didn’t forget you." 

There was still a good minute left before the concentration of the compound would be enough to incapacitate him. Harry moved to the front of his cell. “Do you always punish your lackeys when someone bests you?” he asked lazily.

“You’ve hardly _bested_ me,” Zoom growled, zipping to the front of his cell, standing right up against the glass and peering inside in an uncanny, creepy manner.

Harry grinned, slowly and lazily. “I don’t see my daughter here, do you?” he asked.

“Don’t you worry, Wells,” Zoom said. “I’ll be sure to bring her back just so that I can kill her in front of you.”

“How much does it bother you that I refused to go along with your deal, even with all the leverage you had against me?” Harry asked conversationally. “You realize you’ll never truly own the world? There will always be people like me standing in your way.”

He had to provoke Zoom to come into the cell. Once he was inside, he’d be susceptible to the compound. As long as there was carbyne between them, Zoom was a danger to Cisco. That meant Harry had to piss him off. 

Zoom’s ego was the size of a small country, so luckily, that wasn’t very hard. “By the way, you can take that mask off now. I know who you are, Garrick. Or should I say, _Zolomon_?”

Zoom went completely still for a second, frozen in place.

In a flurry of movement, he ripped the mask from his face, revealing the all-American handsomeness of the man they’d known as Jay Garrick. He was furious. “When did you figure it out?” he demanded. 

Harry only smirked at him. By his internal countdown, they had finally reached five minutes. “Never take on an opponent who’s smarter than you are.”

“I’m not going to just kill your daughter in front of you before you die,” Zolomon said conversationally. “I’m going to find Ramon and murder him as well. Everyone you love is going to suffer because of you, Harrison Wells.”

“It sounds like that’s a feeling you’re very familiar with,” Harry replied. “Didn’t everyone you’ve ever loved suffer because of you?”

Zolomon’s eyes flashed. A split second later, he sped through the carbyne and grasped Harry by the throat. “Be careful, Wells,” he hissed. “Are you just trying to provoke me into killing you before you can watch your loved ones die? Because even if I kill you first, I assure you their torture will be drawn out and terrible.”

Now was his chance. Harry broke one hand free of the fake handcuffs and kicked Zolomon away from him, using the wall as leverage. Zolomon stumbled back, blinking, before he flew back into super speed again, a vibrating hand at Harry’s throat. “I’ve changed my mind,” he purred. “I _am_ just going to kill you right now.”

It hadn’t worked.

_It hadn’t worked_.

Across the room, Harry made desperate eye contact with Cisco, but Cisco wouldn’t be able to stop Zolomon from murdering him; a vibe blast would just hit the carbyne wall of the cell and dissipate with no effect.

Zolomon turned, following his line of sight. He caught the desperate looks that Cisco and Harry were giving one another and stepped back, beginning to laugh.

“Oh, this is perfect!” he cackled. “He’s not Reverb at all, is he? That’s _Ramon_.” He grinned at Harry. “I suppose he’ll have to see you murdered in front of _his_ eyes. Not as much fun as the reverse, but still very entertaining.”

His vibrating hand aimed towards Harry’s chest. Harry closed his eyes, braced himself, and hoped Cisco and Jesse knew how much he loved them.

There was a burst of blue light in the cell, so blinding that Harry saw the hue through his eyelids, his eyes flying back open in surprise. Zolomon stepped backwards, releasing Harry and shielding his eyes from the light of the breach.

Harry gasped, astonished at being alive. He dove through the breach before he could think, survival instincts taking hold. He rolled back into reality at Cisco’s side, blinking in surprise, leaving Zolomon in the cell.

Zolomon glared furiously at them and threw himself against the plastic of the barrier, intending to phase through. Instead, he fell back onto his ass in surprise.

“What—“ he growled. He tried again and fell backwards once more. “What have you done?!” he yelled.

“The compound,” Cisco whispered. “It took longer to kick in. We didn’t account for the differences in air pressure and vibration between Earth-1 and Earth-2.”

Harry chuckled, feeling exhaustion all the way down to his toes. “That was pretty dumb of us,” he said. He looked at Cisco in amazement, suddenly realizing what had just happened. “You can breach,” he breathed.

“It turns out when you think the person you love is going to die gruesomely in front of your eyes, that’s one hell of a surge of adrenaline,” Cisco murmured. He crawled over and embraced Harry tightly, hiding his face in Harry’s shoulder. Harry wrapped an arm around him, taking a moment to drink in the feeling of Cisco against him, a feeling he’d just thought he’d never experience again. 

In the background, they could still hear Zolomon yelling and throwing himself against the surface of the cell. “We need to take care of that before the effect wears off,” Harry said grimly. “This isn’t over yet.”

Cisco glanced over at the other side of the cave and started. “Where’s Killer Frost?” he asked, his voice pained. Harry looked past him and indeed, Killer Frost was gone along with Deathstroke’s body.

“Let her mourn,” he murmured. “We can deal with her later without Zoom’s backing.” He turned back to face Zoom’s cell, squaring his shoulders.

Cisco reached into his coat and pulled out the dampening cuffs they’d brought with them. “Think you can corral him without super speed, big guy?” he asked.

Harry pulled the fake cuffs off of his own hands to give himself more maneuverability. “Pretty sure I can take him,” he said, taking the dampeners from Cisco. He walked over to the cell carefully, watching Zolomon warily. "It's been awhile since I was in the war, but I haven't forgotten how to do this." 

Without super speed, it turned out that Hunter Zolomon was just a man.

Harry cracked open the door to the cell and immediately punched Zolomon in the face, throwing him backwards against the far end of the cell. Zolomon tried to struggle to his feet, but Harry slapped the dampening cuffs on him before he could move.

“Checkmate,” he said, almost a growl. “We win.”

He pulled the powerless Zolomon to his feet and yanked him out of the cell, dragging him over to Cisco. “Can you create another breach?” he asked. “We may not even need the real Jay Garrick to get us out of here. Take us straight to CCPD." 

Cisco nodded, concentrating hard and doing a weird twist motion with his wrists.

“I’m going to get free,” Zolomon growled. “And I’m going to murder both of you. You can’t stop me.”

“On the contrary,” Harry said, smiling fondly as a bright blue breach burst into being in front of them. Cisco was practically glowing with pride over his new ability. “I’ve built some very good cells in Iron Heights that are designed to stop specifically you. I think Detective West is going to be very happy to have you as a guest.”

He shoved Zolomon through the breach, nodding at Cisco, who followed behind them.

 The moment they appeared in CCPD, Cisco pulled the hair tie out of his hair so that he would look less like Reverb; his gelled hair fell in crispy waves around his face. Harrison looked around for West, seeing her descend the staircase and stop in front of them, unable to tear her eyes from the sight of Zolomon wearing Zoom’s suit. 

“We caught Zoom,” Harry said, dropping Zolomon at her feet. “I believe you’re already acquainted.”

“Garrick?!” West said in shock. “ _The Flash_ was also _Zoom_?!” 

“He’s been playing us all for months,” Harry said. “Eventually, he got caught. I believe there’s a cell in Iron Heights with his name on it?” 

“Oh, he’ll see the inside of a cell,” West said, a catlike grin appearing on her face. “ _Eventually_.”

“You better still grant him due process,” Cisco said, stepping up to stand next to Harry. The police surrounding them all went for their weapons, but he held up his hands. “Vibe, not Reverb. Just in disguise. I’m a good guy.”

“Ramon,” West said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You’re a pain in my ass. We spent months fighting this guy, and now you’re going to tweet about respecting his rights?”

“We don’t get to be judge, jury, and executioner,” Cisco said, his face drawn and serious. “You of all people should know how dangerous it is once you cross that line.”

West watched him for a long moment. Finally, she made a face at him. 

“Fine. Jay Garrick, you’re under arrest--“

“His real name is Hunter Zolomon,” Harry informed her. “Just to make sure you read his rights properly.”

West breathed out heavily. “The killer?” 

“The killer,” Harry confirmed with a nod.

She cleared her throat. “ _Hunter Zolomon_ , you’re under arrest for murder. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law…” 

Harry turned to Cisco, feeling suddenly like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

“I’m exhausted,” he murmured. “And we still need to find Jesse.”

Cisco pulled the goggles from inside Reverb’s jacket. “Let’s see if I can vibe her and find out where Garrick took her,” he said. He put them on and grasped Harry by the arm, going stiff. A moment later, he grinned. “They’re at your house. It looks like they got Chinese take out? They must have been starving, Zoom doesn’t seem like the type of guy to feed his prisoners much.”

West handed Zolomon off to two officers, who gladly hauled him away. She turned back to Harry and Cisco. “ _Thank you_ ,” she said fervently. “You’ve done a huge service to Central City today. I’m sure the mayor will be in touch shortly.” 

Harry shrugged. In for a penny, right? “I’m the one who caused the metas in the first place. It’s the least I can do to clean them up.”

West looked stunned. “You what?”

“There are a couple more things we need to take care of for clean up. We need to locate Zoom’s warehouse where the stolen tech is being stored so that we can prevent any of his minions from continuing his plans to invade other Earths. We’ll also need to round up the metas that he’s been collecting.”

West nodded faintly, still looking like she was mentally processing the implications of Harry’s original statement. 

Cisco grinned and opened a breach. “On that note, we need to go make sure Harry’s daughter is okay! Nice seeing you, Iris. You look well.”

He tossed her a wink and pulled Harry through the breach before West could respond. A moment later, they were tumbling out into Harry’s living room, the orange glow of the setting sun coming through the west-facing windows.

As Cisco predicted, Jesse and Garrick were seated at Harry’s kitchen table, surrounded by takeout boxes.

“Dad!” Jesse yelled, dashing up from her chair. Harry caught her as she launched herself at him and embraced her tightly, burying his nose in her hair and not even trying to staunch the flow of tears as he considered how close he’d come to losing her. She smelled like she hadn’t bathed in a week; it was still the best smell in the world.

“Jesse Quick,” he murmured. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

They hugged for a long time, long enough that Garrick and Cisco began to chat in the background, but Harry didn’t pay them any mind. Finally, he looked up from Jesse’s hair to catch Cisco’s eye, beckoning him over. Cisco blinked. He walked over slowly, gingerly joining the hug, and Jesse laughed and moved to include him, tugging him in and embracing him. 

“Did my dad finally come to his senses about this?” she asked with a huge grin. “Are you going to be my new stepfather?”

Harry sighed the sigh of the long-suffering, but one look at Cisco’s beaming face was heartbreaking. Harry wanted it so badly that his heart ached.

Garrick came up to them. “Zoom is taken care of?” he confirmed. At Harry’s nod, he smiled. “In that case, I’d better get back to my Earth. God knows what’s been happening to it in my absence.” He held out one hand, and Harry stepped away from the hug pile long enough to give him a firm handshake. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Wells.”

Cisco gave him a handshake as well, and Jesse gave him a huge hug before Garrick turned into a blur and vanished with half of the takeout containers.

Harry and Jesse settled together in a clump on the couch, still clinging to each other. “I don’t want to be the one to ruin this much-needed moment together, but we’ve still got some loose ends to tie up,” Cisco pointed out. “Namely: what do we do about Reverb and the other Dr. Wells?” 

Jesse blinked and looked at them. “Other Dr. Wells?” she asked.

“Zoom sent us to a parallel Earth,” Harry explained succinctly. “My doppelganger there has superspeed and is most likely evil.” 

“We left Reverb with him,” Cisco added. “So we really should go back and figure out what to do about him.”

Harry knew he was right. “Give me and Jesse an hour?” he asked. “Then we’ll go back to Earth-1.”

Cisco nodded, then looked at them shyly. “I _could_ go back to my own apartment and get some fresh clothes, which sounds like a really great idea right now,” he said. “But if you don’t mind, can I join you guys instead?”

Harry gave Cisco a look like he was the most ridiculous person alive. “Get over here,” he said flatly, and he and Jesse made space for Cisco to join their pile on the couch.

It turned out that Cisco was a quick study for breaching – he did take some time to return to his apartment and change before reappearing in their living room. Harry filled Jesse in on what she’d missed, including Cisco’s secret about being born on Earth-1. She was delighted by every twist and turn, her imagination captured by the parallel Earths.

“I’m coming with you guys,” she said. “I want to see another Earth.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Harry.

Jesse held her chin up high, watching him with steely, determined grey eyes, so much like Tess’s. “You taught me self defense when I was twelve. I can use a gun. I know how to take care of myself, and nobody’s ever going to use me against you again. So I’m coming with you.” Her voice went quieter. “I’m not sure what I would do if I had to stay here alone right now." 

It was an abrupt reminder that she was coming down from an incredibly traumatic experience, and Harry made a mental note to find her a therapist as soon as the dust completely settled. In the meanwhile, if she had to stay by his side in order to feel safe, he was going to keep her there.

“Okay, Jesse Quick,” he said, ruffling her curls. “You can come with us.”

He was coming back up from the basement with two more pulse guns when Cisco breached back into the living room. “Really?” he asked as Harry handed one of the guns to Jesse and strapped the other one around himself. “How many of those do you have?” 

“I’m not going in unarmed,” Harry said tightly. “And Jesse’s coming with us. She doesn’t want to stay here alone.”

“Uh, Harry? What about, uh, R-E-V-E-R-B?” Cisco asked.

“I’m nineteen, not five. I can spell,” Jesse said with a groan. “I’m not afraid of Reverb.” She put her hands on her hips, surveying them. “You two together are going to be annoyingly overprotective, aren’t you?” She made a face at Cisco. “Here I thought you would be the cool dad.”

“Hey,” said Harry.

“I’m _way_ cool,” said Cisco.

“I think she’s still on an adrenaline high,” Harry told Cisco. “But I’m not leaving her alone here when she just got done with a major trauma. We’re all going.”

“Okay, okay,” Cisco said. “But I’m breaching her back at the first sign of trouble.” He concentrated and another glowing blue portal appeared above the couch. “Ready?”

Harry nodded and held his hand out to Jesse. She took it in hers and took a deep breath. Together, they stepped through, Cisco trailing behind them.

* * *

Harry, Cisco, and Jesse emerged into the S.T.A.R. Labs of Earth-1 to find the lab they’d left from absolutely devoid of any sign that anyone had been there.

“This isn’t good,” Cisco muttered.

Harry hefted his pulse gun as they made their way from the lab back to the lobby. Everything at S.T.A.R. Labs was startlingly quiet, except for an odd hum under the floorboards. Jesse took everything in with wide eyes.

Soon they were on the elevator, headed to the cortex. Less than a half day had passed. Harry refused to believe that they’d doomed Earth-1 by abandoning Reverb and Dr. Wells together for such a small amount of time, but the overall feel of the place was ominous.

The elevator dinged. The doors slid open.

When Harry, Cisco, and Jesse stepped out into the cortex, nothing seemed out of place. Allen and Raymond were messing with some tech in the corner, and both of them looked up when Harry’s team entered.

“Harry?” Allen asked. He sped over to stand in front of them, looking Jesse over. “You must be Harry’s daughter?”

“Hi,” Jesse said with a small wave. “Jesse Wells.” 

Where were Dr. Wells and Reverb? Harry opened, his mouth, about to ask— 

A familiar voice said, “Caitlin asked me to get you the spectrometer graph—“

Jay Garrick – _Hunter Zolomon_ Jay Garrick – stepped out from the bio lab. He stopped mid-sentence, staring almost stupidly at them.

No. Staring at _Jesse_. 

“No way,” Cisco muttered under his breath. “This is really bad.”

“Cisco, get Jesse out of here,” Harry ordered. Cisco was already opening a breach, the swirling blue surrounding them. 

He was too late. A flash of blue lightning sent Harry and Cisco against the wall, Harry feeling his spine wrench on impact. Zolomon reappeared a moment later, grasping Jesse by her forearm, her pulse gun effectively thrown across the room.

There was another flash and Jesse was freed, placed across the room by Allen.

Allen clenched his fist and turned to face Zolomon. “You’re Zoom,” he said, betrayal painted all over his face. It wasn’t a question.

Zolomon grinned at him, almost feral. “I’m Zoom,” he confirmed. “Hello, Flash.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come hang out with me on [tumblr](https://saucy-kate.tumblr.com/) and help me try to figure out what my next Harrisco project will be! 
> 
> The last chapter of this fic needs some serious editing and revising, so may not be up until this coming weekend, but I promise it will be out as soon as I'm satisfied with it. Thank you for reading!!!


	14. Chapter 14

“ _How_ is Zoom still here?” Cisco hissed at Harry as they staggered to their feet near the wall that Zoom had thrown them against. “Did he escape _already_ from Earth-2 CCPD?”

Harry shook his head. “Did you see the way he looked at Jesse? That wasn’t the Zoom that we captured a few hours ago. It has to be a time remnant.”

In the background, Allen and Zolomon’s lightning-fast speedster fight vanished from the room in a blur of blue and red. Harry watched them go, feeling totally out of his league with a fight at lightspeed. 

Cisco furrowed his brow. “Time remnant?”

“Timeline remnant,” Harry explained. “He traveled back in time to the point where he was in two places at once so that he could split himself, keeping one on Earth-2 to run his operation while the other followed us to Earth-1 as Jay Garrick. Even though we’ve captured the present Zoom, this Zoom hasn’t been affected by that yet. Thus, he’s a remnant from a different timeline." 

Cisco just looked exhausted. “Great. It already took all we had to defeat the guy once.” Harry thought of the one leftover bulb of the slow compound that was in his back pocket, saved for Dr. Wells in a moment of clarity.

“We still have one bulb of the compound left,” he whispered to Cisco. “But we’d have to lure him into a smaller space, and then we’d have nothing to use if we need to work against Dr. Wells.” He began to pull himself standing, using the wall to hold himself steady. Something twinged in his back as he did so, informing him painfully that he hadn’t managed to survive being thrown at superspeed unscathed.

As soon as Harry was standing again, he limped across the room to where Barry had left Jesse. “Jesse Quick, are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded, her eyes wide. “I thought he was taken care of,” she said.

“Time remnant,” Harry told her dryly. “We’ll deal with it. You need to get back to Earth-2. Cisco, can you breach her back?”

Jesse shook her head fiercely, pulling herself to her feet. “No way, Dad,” she said, walking over to where her pulse gun lay abandoned on the floor. “That man kept me prisoner and made me feel powerless. I’m going to fight him.”

“Jesse…” Harry said, both proud and terrified that he’d fathered such a daughter. She looped the pulse gun over her shoulder and rested it on her hip, looking every bit a Wells. Harry tugged her back to him and gave her a hug, ignoring the sharp pain that began in his side when he did so. 

“Dad, you’re hurt,” Jesse murmured, pulling away quickly. Harry shook his head – his injuries could be dealt with later, once they were out of danger. 

Cisco had pulled himself upright and dragged himself over to Raymond, who was standing at his computer in shock. They began to confer in low, quiet voices, Raymond sounding upset. Harry wondered if Raymond and Snow had actually begun to develop _feelings_ for that idiot, and he almost felt bad for them. “Oh god, I have to find Cait,” Raymond finally exclaimed before running out the door towards the infirmary.

The blur of fighting speedsters reappeared in the cortex just as Harry was starting to gather his wits. They zig-zagged around the room for a few harrowing moments before resolving back into two figures standing bow-legged on the floor from stopping so quickly in superspeed.

Zolomon was in the middle of pontificating. “—and you didn’t suspect a _thing_. You let me into your base, you let me into your _lives_ , and you gave me the keys to your Earth.” He was grinning like he’d won, and maybe he had; by being alive in two places at once, he’d essentially pulled off the ultimate twist.

Allen looked tired and upset, still probably in shock from the betrayal. In hindsight, Harry realized they should have given the rest of Team Flash a heads up about Jay Garrick’s real identity, even though he’d assumed taking care of Zoom on Earth-2 would have done the same on Earth-1. Because of that miscalculation, Allen was left fighting a speedster who was significantly faster and more vicious while also emotionally compromised. Their little Earth-2 band had only been on Earth-1 for a short amount of time, but it had been enough for all of them to form unwise emotional connections.

They probably should have also told Team Flash about Harry’s doppelganger. If that came out soon as well, Allen was going to be inconsolable.

Harry’s mind whirled lightning fast, dragging him back to the problem at hand. They had to lure Zoom into a smaller space so that he could use the slow compound on him again. And where the hell was Dr. Wells?

“Now, Barry, give me your speed,” commanded Zolomon.

“I’m not giving you anything,” Allen declared hotly.

Zolomon’s eyes curved into a wicked smile. “I suspect you’ll change your mind—“ he began.

The room shook violently without warning, throwing Harry off of his feet onto his painful side. It was as though there had been a huge impact or some sort of explosion, very close. As Harry caught his breath and looked around the room, everyone else had frozen, staring at each other with wide eyes – even Zolomon. 

“Okay, _what_ was that?” Cisco asked, voicing what they were all thinking.

A familiar rumbling began beneath them, and Harry abruptly knew what was happening. 

He cursed as Jesse helped him to standing once more. “Someone’s started the particle accelerator.”

He met Cisco’s worried gaze. They knew exactly who the culprit was.

“This isn’t my problem,” Zolomon snapped. “Give me your speed." 

Allen met his gaze squarely. “Not until we find out what’s going on with the particle accelerator.”

“It’ll be hard to take over the multiverse if you can’t even control what’s going on in this Earth’s S.T.A.R. Labs,” Harry observed conversationally, a ghost of an idea starting to form in his mind. 

Zoom turned to him to snarl, “shut _up_ , Wells!”

“Harry has a point,” Cisco interjected. “If that particle accelerator explodes again, there’s no telling what it will do to any of us.”

Harry didn’t know if Cisco was on the same page or if he was just riffing off of Harry’s cues. It didn’t really matter; he’d left Harry an opening. “We have to go down and check it out,” Harry declared. “Are you done throwing a childish tantrum until we can turn the accelerator off? You’ll have a hell of a time stealing speed from a dead Flash, and your invading armies won’t want much to do with a destroyed Earth.” Zoom’s science knowledge seemed to be limited to anything related to how his speed worked; Harry hoped he was as dumb about particle physics as he’d always pretended to be.

Zolomon narrowed his eyes. “Fine,” he said.

Harry glanced around the room at the faces around him – Allen, betrayed and devastated. Jesse, trembling with fear and determination, one hand clutched around her pulse gun as she glared at Zoom. Cisco, watching Harry with narrowed eyes as though trying to telepathically figure out his plan. Zolomon, surveying them all.

The room shook again, reminding them all that they were wasting time.

“We all go down. I go last,” Zolomon said, like this was his hostage situation and he was calling the shots. “And you won’t be needing these.” He zoomed through the room and suddenly both Harry and Jesse were missing their pulse rifles. Zolomon tossed them aside, too far to retrieve.

Jesse’s hand trembled slightly but she kept her hand up. Harry nodded encouragingly at her. It appeared that for now, they were going to do as Zoom told them.

Allen nodded at Zolomon before heading towards the door, clearly deciding cooperation was the better option than continuing a fight that he was almost certain to lose. Cisco walked over to join Jesse and Harry, reaching over and taking one of Harry’s hands in his before they followed Allen. Zolomon trailed behind them all, a menacing presence as they headed down the spiraling halls towards the heart of the particle accelerator.

“How did you do it, Wells?” he asked conversationally.

Harry turned around and glared at him. “Do what?” 

The building around them shook once more, a reminder that they needed to hurry. 

“Get your daughter free from me?” Zolomon continued. “You didn’t kill me, or I would have received those memories.” 

“We outwitted you,” Harry snarled. “And we’ll do it again, over and over again, until you’re defeated.”

Ahead of them, Allen rounded the corner that led to the heart of the accelerator.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet, Wells?” Zolomon asked. “I can fragment myself across the worlds. I’m unkillable, undying, and every single one of me will be coming for _you_. And Ramon. And your daughter.” He grinned a terrifying, toothy smile. “Nobody in the multiverse can stop me.” 

From around the corner, Allen exclaimed, “Cisco?!”

Harry picked up his pace. He rounded the corner, Cisco and Jesse at his heels, to find a familiar-looking figure standing by an open panel with a tablet in his hands.

Reverb was wearing Cisco’s clothes and had his hair down in soft curls around his face, no eyeliner or gel in sight. Without his customary getup, Reverb looked identical to Cisco, but Harry found he could still see a subtle difference in their facial expressions.

Reverb even spoke like Cisco as he chatted with Barry. “Dr. Wells asked me to take a look at the accelerator, we think it’s—“ He trailed off as Harry and Cisco came around the corner, staring at them until Barry turned around and glanced between the two Ciscos.

“How are there two of you?!” Barry demanded. He turned to point at _Harry’s_ Cisco. “Are you an imposter?!”

“C’mon, man,” Cisco said, holding his hands up like he was in an Old West holdup. “I’m the Cisco you’ve been hanging out with. We watched the Wrath of Khan together, remember?”

Barry turned to Reverb, outraged. “Are _you_ the imposter?!”

Reverb held his hand out in Spock’s ‘live long and prosper’ gesture. “I have and always will be your friend,” he recited. “It’s a classic, man.” It was bone-chilling how much he sounded like Cisco. 

“Oh god! Who’s fake?! Are either of you fake?!” Barry sounded distressed.

Abruptly, Reverb’s eyes went as wide as saucers and all of the color drained from his face. Harry turned around to see what had scared him so badly.

Zolomon had rounded the corner to join them.

He immediately, of course, registered the double Ciscos. “Ah, Reverb,” he said conversationally, as though finding Reverb disguised as one of his doppelgangers was nothing out of the ordinary. Reverb’s eyebrow twitched. “You can be backup. Make sure none of them leave before I can steal the Flash’s speed.” He narrowed his eyes at the tablet in Reverb’s hands. “What are you doing?" 

Cisco gripped Harry’s hand even harder, looking pale, as though he was afraid he was going to see his doppelganger murdered right in front of them. 

Reverb’s body language reverted back to his usual lazy indolence. “You came up with a new plan on Earth-2. Sent me through a breach to impersonate Ramon and restart the particle accelerator here.”

Zolomon’s eyes narrowed. “Why would I want to restart the particle accelerator on this Earth?” he demanded.

Reverb’s eyes darted around the room. He was rapidly running out of rope. “Because it will make you faster.”

Zolomon’s facial expression turned into pure hunger. “The particle accelerator can make me faster?” he asked, his voice low and dangerous.

“Oh, absolutely,” Reverb said smoothly. “I ran some tests in my lab. I brought some of the Velocity serum with me, and if we can inject you with it at the exact moment that you’re flushed with the dark matter from the accelerator. It’ll give you access to the speed force that you never even _dreamed_ of.”

Harry thought back to the Velocity serum, stolen from his own lab months before by Reverb himself. The chemical makeup had been interesting, and assuming Reverb and Zoom’s people hadn’t made too many modifications…god, there was a chance that it would actually work.

Cisco seemed to have concluded the same thing; he made eye contact with Harry and shook his head, just slightly, as if to say, ‘we can’t let this happen’. Harry nodded and his fingers brushed the bulb of the slow compound still stored in his pocket. There was still too much ventilation and not enough time for it to be useful.

“Good,” said Zolomon. “My counterpart has since been captured by Wells and his goons, so I’ll be the one to undergo the procedure instead.”

Reverb made an accusatory face at Harry and Cisco. Harry rolled his eyes; it was hardly his fault that Zoom had made a backup of himself.

“Dad,” Jesse hissed, leaning up to whisper almost directly in his ear. “We can’t let this happen." 

“Don’t worry,” Harry said, even though he felt the same.

The building shook again. “We’ll want to head to the speed lab,” Reverb said, stretching his arms above his head. “That’s where I was setting up the experiment.” He made eye contact with Harry again, this time without much expression. Harry didn’t understand what he was trying to communicate, but Cisco nodded.

Something about Zolomon was distracted, off-base. Was it the lure of absolute power? Was it the knowledge that somehow, on Earth-2, Harry had gotten the drop on his counterpart? Was it the surprise of having to deal with a crisis related to the particle accelerator?

Their little band, now including Reverb, backed out of the pipeline and headed for the speed lab. Halfway there, Allen skidded to a stop, his face pale. 

“Wait. If you’ve restarted the particle accelerator – we’re storing _people_ down there!”

Reverb rolled his eyes. “Worried about your illegal prison?”

“Those metas are dangerous, but they’re still people—“ Allen started hotly. 

Reverb checked his nails out of boredom. “I freed them,” he said shortly. 

Harry and Cisco both turned to stare at him, having seen the results of Reverb’s lack of empathy firsthand. “You _freed_ them?” Cisco asked, his eyebrows almost in his hairline.

“Yeah. It messes with your team _and_ we don’t have to clean their splattered insides off the accelerator later,” Reverb said flippantly.

“That’s oddly compassionate of you,” Cisco said, stepping forward and clapping him on the shoulder. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”

Reverb stepped away from him with a grimace. “On second thought, maybe I should have left them there.” He began his trek to the speed lab again. Zolomon moved forward threateningly and the rest of them followed.

With everyone distracted, Harry took Jesse’s hand and tugged Cisco to the back of the pack. “When you have a moment of distraction, I want you to breach Jesse out of here,” he hissed.

“I’m _still_ not going anywhere,” Jesse hissed angrily. “I’m nineteen years old! I can make my own decisions!”

“That man just kidnapped you and held you in a cave for weeks,” Harry snapped, raising his voice slightly. “I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

“ _God_ , you are so overprotective!” Jesse snapped back. She wrenched her arm free and ran forward to walk with Allen, leaving Harry and Cisco shuffling behind by themselves.

Harry frowned angrily in her direction just as Zolomon noticed they were lagging. “Wells,” he growled. “We’d hate to lose you from our group.” He flicked his eyes to Jesse, the implied threat obvious. Harry gritted his teeth and limped forward, still feeling the effects of his injury, with Cisco assisting him.

Moments later, they approached the speed lab.

“Zoom,” Reverb said loudly as they crossed the threshold. “We can isolate the antimatter and dark matter here and direct it into you.” Harry glanced around the room. There was an odd frame surrounded by tanks set up in the back corner, clearly designed to hold a person. Vials of some sort of serum – the Velocity serum? – were spread out on a small metal table nearby, along with some syringes. 

There was a slight noise and an electric crackle in the air. Dr. Wells wheeled out from behind the frame, taking in the double Ciscos, Zolomon standing with his arms crossed, and Jesse with a raised eyebrow. 

“Dr. Wells!” Allen sounded relieved. “Jay is _Zoom_! One Cisco is a fake! They’re starting up the particle accelerator! We have to do something!”

Wells’s eyes narrowed in Zolomon’s direction. “ _You’re_ Zoom,” he stated flatly, a coiled anger present in his voice.

Zolomon grinned, feral and cruel. “I’m Zoom,” he confirmed. “Reverb and I are going to be taking over the particle accelerator to help me get faster. Stay out of my way and I might even spare you.” 

Reverb nodded, his eyes darting to Dr. Wells nervously.

“Oh my god,” Cisco whispered to Harry. “Reverb’s double-crossing Zoom.”

Harry turned to look at Cisco. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. I think he’s going to pit the two speedsters against each other. Look at the nervous looks he’s shooting in Zoom’s direction.” 

Harry was thankful that Cisco knew himself well enough to read his doppelganger’s intentions. He reached down and squeezed Cisco’s hand once, softly.

Dr. Wells stayed in his chair, keeping a wary eye on Zolomon as he walked around the room asking questions about the setup. Harry’s gears turned. “Reverb wasn’t doing this for Zoom,” he hissed at Cisco. “He was doing it for _Dr. Wells_. The plan he described – using dark matter infused with the Velocity serum – it would work. They started the particle accelerator to make Dr. Wells faster.”

Cisco frowned. “I knew leaving Reverb here was a bad idea,” he muttered.

“I wish we knew what Wells’ endgame is,” Harry whispered. “It would be helpful.”

“We’re going to need help with this,” Reverb was saying to Zolomon in the background. He pointed to Dr. Wells. “You. Help me here, will you?”

Dr. Wells wheeled forward. “I’ll do whatever I can,” he said in that deceptively calm voice of his. He turned to Zolomon “We’re going to start the particle accelerator. If you position yourself in this frame, Cisco will inject you with the Velocity-9.”

“Uh, that’s Reverb,” Cisco pointed out.

Wells gave him a look before turning back to Zolomon. “Cisco will inject you with the Velocity-9,” he repeated.

“Gross,” Cisco whispered under his breath. “They’re totally going to bang.”

“I think there are bigger things to worry about at the moment,” Harry said dryly, squeezing his hand.

“We’ll ensure that the dark matter and antimatter are directed over you at the exact same moment,” Wells said. Zolomon nodded and stood in the metal frame where he was directed, having his hands fastened into the holders by Reverb. “The combination of the two should make you significantly faster.”

“If any of them try anything,” Zolomon growled at Reverb, “kill them.”

“Yes, sir,” Reverb said with a flip salute before reaching into his pocket and adding a very familiar-looking cuff to Zolomon’s wrist. “Right away, sir.”

Zolomon blinked and stared at the cuff. “What—“

“Did you really think,” Wells started conversationally, “that we were going to let _you_ get faster from the Velocity-9?”

“Wait, what?” asked Allen.

“You put a _dampening cuff_ on me?!” Zolomon growled, attempting to phase through the restraints and failing. He tried to wrench himself from the frame, escape futile. “Reverb, are you double crossing me?!” 

Reverb shrugged. “I got a better offer.” The hopeful look he shot in Wells’ direction made him look so much like Cisco that it made Harry feel sick to his stomach.

Wells powered his chair in closer to peer at Zolomon. “You really should be better at managing your people, Jay,” he continued in the same conversational tone. “Fear only keeps people in your sway for so long. But love and honor? Love and honor will keep them yours for life.”

Dr. Wells stood up and took a step forward.

“Barry Allen,” he said, meeting Allen’s stunned gaze. “I don’t believe we’ve been officially introduced.” He took another step closer to Zolomon, radiating danger with every movement. He raised one hand in a blade, right in front of Zolomon’s chest, and it began to vibrate so quickly that it became a blur. “My name is Eobard Thawne.”

Zolomon’s eyes widened, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

Wells plunged his hand into Zolomon’s chest, and a moment later, Zolomon slumped into stillness.

“Clean up the mess,” Dr. Wells said to Reverb, stepping forward to walk towards the rest of them. Allen tensed up, ready for a fight, and beside Harry, Cisco pulled out his goggles. Harry hadn’t fought anyone hand-to-hand in a long time, but he still dropped into a defensive stance. In the background, Reverb removed Zolomon’s body from the restraints, grabbed the dampening cuff to place on the table, and tossed the body through a breach in typical careless fashion.

All hell broke loose at once, like a spell had been broken.

“You’re the Reverse Flash,” Barry said, connecting the dots, his voice low and angry. “You pretended to be my friend, you pretended to be my _mentor_ , but you _killed my mother_!”

“Thawne?! You’re not Dr. Wells?” Cisco demanded. 

“Thawne? As in Eddie Thawne?” Allen asked at the same time.

“You’re not Wells’s doppelganger?!” Reverb asked from the across the room.

The implications were staggering. The mystery speedster they’d been allied with wasn’t Harrison Wells at all. Did Harry even have a doppelganger in that universe? Had Thawne killed him and taken his place?

“Eddie is…a distant relation,” Dr. Wells replied, his voice pleasant.

“How long have you been pretending to be Dr. Wells?!” Cisco asked. Harry could see the fear in his eyes, the sorrow. He didn’t know which answer was going to hurt Cisco more, although he already suspected he knew the answer. Fifteen years before, the Reverse Flash had murdered Allen’s mother.

“I took on Harrison Wells’s identity fifteen years ago,” Thawne confirmed.

“And what exactly happened to my doppelganger when you did that?” Harry asked, surprised by the protective fury that he felt deep in himself. 

“Unfortunately, he was killed in the same automobile accident that killed Tess Morgan,” Thawne replied flippantly. Harry felt his ears almost ringing with rage, seeing red until a small hand took his and squeezed it. He looked down at Jesse, who was staring at him with steely determination.

“Dad,” she murmured. “This isn’t our world. It’s okay.” 

Cisco’s eyes were shining, his face drawn and pale. “You were never Dr. Wells,” he repeated.

“You _killed_ my _mother_!” Allen shouted again, the shock of the double betrayals clearly getting to him. He blurred into superspeed, Wells a moment behind him, the two of them darting around the room in bursts of tandem lightning before vanishing out the door. It felt bizarrely like déjà vu. 

“Reverb,” Cisco asked, voice sad, “what are you doing?”

Reverb gave them all a haughty look. “Picking a side,” he said snidely.

“Uh, somehow it still managed to be the _wrong_ side,” Cisco pointed out. “That creep _murdered_ Harry’s doppelganger! And Barry’s mom!”

Reverb rolled his eyes. “Am I supposed to be heartbroken about the deaths of two people I haven’t even met? I’m sure Wells’s doppelganger was just as much of a buzzkill as he is.”

Harry clenched his fists. “I don’t think—“

“You know I’m a genius, right?” Reverb continued. “Nobody cared how smart I was. Not my family, not my gang, not Zoom. Who cares what you can invent, Cisco? Blast things apart for us. Create wormholes. Move my army from Earth to Earth.” He rolled his eyes again; Harry was beginning to think it was his favorite expression. “That dude? He _gets_ me.”

“This is literally the most appropriate time in the universe to say, _him_?” Cisco said, wrinkling his nose. “I know he’s hot, but at what cost?”

“Banging Wells was your thing, not mine, Francisco,” Reverb sneered. “I like people for their minds.”

“Oh yeah, you’re the sole person with integrity in the dating field,” Cisco replied snidely.

“Not that watching you argue with yourself isn’t entertaining,” Harry murmured to him, “but what are we going to do when Thawne gets back?” He was never referring to the man as Wells again.

“This room is too big and spacious to use the same trick we used to take down Zoom,” Cisco muttered. Harry agreed; unless they could somehow lure Thawne into a closet for five minutes, that trick wasn’t going to work twice.

Reverb started back for the monitor that was managing the start-up of the particle accelerator. “We’re at 80%. Almost ready for that jolt of dark matter.”

“Get away from there,” Cisco said, putting on his goggles and moving threateningly closer. “Shut it down or I’ll blast you.”

“I gather from the fact that you got back here that you’ve learned how to breach,” Reverb mused. “Let’s see if you can get yourself back from this.” Before Harry or Jesse could react, Reverb opened a breach behind Cisco and used a quick vibe blast to send him flying through it, closing it behind him. He gave them a smug look.

“Where did you send him?!” Harry demanded. “Bring him back.”

Reverb shrugged theatrically. “He’s still alive, if that’s what you’re asking.” He went back to the monitor in front of him, grinning at Harry with all teeth. “You wanna fight, Wells? Because I can send your daughter spinning onto another Earth as easily as blinking. Maybe one that just suffered an apocalypse. Or just into space. Do you know how long it would take her to die in vacuum?”

“Shut up,” Jesse snapped, stepping forward with her chin held high. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“You should be,” Reverb told her with the same toothy grin.

Harry was ready to punch the smug expression off of his face, Cisco’s doppelganger or not, when red and yellow lightning zigzagged back through the room again, blurring over to the table that held the Velocity-9 before resolving back into Thawne and Allen once more.

A familiar cuff was now on Allen’s wrist, and he tried to go back into superspeed and failed. He glared at Thawne, his eyes wide. Harry made a gesture to Jesse to stand back and stepped towards them; he was not about to let Thawne murder Allen like he had Zoom. 

Thawne didn’t seem interested in murder. He studied Allen with a long, thoughtful look. “I came back here to kill you,” he said wistfully. “But watching you grow into the Flash these two years, teaching you how to increase your speed…I’ve grown quite fond of you." 

“Why did you do it?” Allen demanded. “Why did you lie to us? Why did you teach me for so long if you only just hated me?” 

Thawne shook his head. “I never hated you,” he told him. “Future you, yes, but you? You’re the embryo of the self-righteous sanctimonious hero you’ll become. I needed you to get faster so that I could return to my time.” He shrugged. “It would have worked if Zoom hadn’t been created.” He shot Harry a dirty look.

“But it doesn’t matter anymore,” Thawne continued. He vanished and reappeared in almost an instant, wearing a yellow supersuit with a device attached to it. “This tachyon prototype wasn’t enough to get me fast enough. But with the Velocity-9 and the dark matter, I should become powerful and fast enough to break the time barrier once more.” He shrugged. “I don’t need you anymore, Barry Allen. And I can’t have you close to this experiment, just in case you also happen to get faster from him.”

There was another flash of superspeed and Allen was suddenly gone. Thawne reappeared in front of Harry and gave him a considering look. “I don’t like you, but you and your daughter have done nothing to me yet. I’ll let you live for now.” 

Harry let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and pulled Jesse to his side. “Reverb needs to bring Cisco back as well,” he said.

“You’re not in a position to negotiate,” Thawne told him, glancing at Reverb.

Reverb sighed theatrically. “Francisco will be _fine_. I didn’t even send him to one of the really bad Earths.” 

Thawne sped to stand in front of Reverb. “Is the accelerator ready?” he asked, glancing at the monitor beside him. He nodded once, satisfied with what he saw. He leaned into Reverb’s space, their noses brushing. “I can trust you to do as we talked about, can’t I, Cisco?” 

The look on Reverb’s face was once again one hundred percent Cisco. Harry squashed down the discomfort he felt in his stomach; Reverb was the enemy, there was no time to feel _bad_ for him for being emotionally manipulated by the douchebag who had stolen Harry’s doppelganger’s identity.

Thawne pulled one arm out of his suit and attached himself to the frame, leaving an arm free for the injection. He nodded to Reverb, who began to mess with the tablet in his hand. Nobody was paying attention to Harry and Jesse now. The accelerator roared to life, the entire room shaking.

“Dad,” Jesse whispered. 

“Not now,” said Harry, trying to think of a way out of this. 

“ _Dad_ ,” Jesse said again. “It’s Cisco.”

Harry looked up and blinked. She tugged him to look back at the doorway and he saw Cisco standing there, peering around the edge, trying to get his attention without Reverb or Thawne seeing him. The relief that flooded him was absolute; Cisco was okay, he was fine, he was back on Earth-1.

Cisco made a “come here” gesture with his hand.

“I’ll distract them,” Jesse said. “You go see what he’s planning.”

Before Harry could object, Jesse walked up to Reverb and peered at the tablet in his hand. “My dad never let me see the particle accelerator he created,” she said brightly. “This is so interesting. How are you handling the polarity reversal on the subatomic particles so that the dark matter and antimatter are directed so precisely?”

Reverb blinked at her. “You know about particle physics?” he asked.

“Please,” said Jesse. “I’m a Wells.” She threw a wink in Harry’s direction and Harry squared his shoulders, ignoring the sharp fear that shot through his heart; Jesse was an adult, she was reclaiming her own agency after a terrible ordeal, and he couldn’t protect her forever. Using Reverb’s distraction, he slipped out the door to join Cisco in the hallway. 

He pulled Cisco into his arms and hugged him immediately, murmuring into his shoulder, “you’re okay.”

“Reverb’s secretly a softy,” Cisco said. “He sent me to some world with _mermaids_. They were really nice and chatted with me until I figured out how to breach multiple Earths away. I’ve only ever jumped between yours and mine; it’s a lot harder when it’s further out.” He shrugged. “But it looks like I came back just in time. Harry, I _built_ this particle accelerator. I know more about it than Reverb does, and I can stop it.”

“They’re turning it on now,” Harry said sharply.

“Yeah, but they can’t produce enough dark matter and antimatter to direct through a person until it’s fully operational.”

“They’re trying to flood Thawne with dark matter and the Velocity-9 at the same time so that he can superspeed himself back to the future,” Harry told him, filling Cisco in on what he’d missed even as he ran his hand through Cisco’s messy curls, reassuring himself that he was okay.

“He’s from the _future_?!” Cisco exclaimed. “That’s trippy. Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.” He outlined some of the weaknesses in the accelerator design for Harry quickly and carefully; interestingly, they were similar weaknesses that Harry had accidentally had in his own design as well. “I think if we can shut down the cooling valves, we can overload Thawne with more dark matter and antimatter than he can handle.”

“That risks another explosion,” said Harry critically. 

“Only if we don’t shut down the accelerator immediately afterwards,” Cisco pointed out. “It took a much higher concentration of dark matter and antimatter to cause the original explosion a few years ago. Thawne will be overloaded with it long before we have to shut it down.” He took Harry’s hand in his, lacing their fingers together. Harry listened to the sound of the accelerator coming to life around them and knew that if anything went wrong this time, he and Cisco would be the first casualties. 

“What do you need me to do?” he asked. 

“Be ready to run,” Cisco whispered, running the fingers of his free hand over Harry’s cheek, tracing the lines of his face. “Get yourself and Jesse out of there as soon as it looks like Thawne’s compromised. Don’t do it before; we can’t risk them calling off the experiment to track you down.” He closed his eyes for a long moment, pressing their foreheads together. “You’d better get back before they notice you were gone. I’m going to disable the cooling valves.”

“Stay safe,” Harry whispered. “If anything goes wrong, breach out immediately.”

“Harry,” Cisco replied. “I love you." 

Harry was stunned by the sentiment, even though he’d already known how Cisco felt about him. He leaned over and kissed Cisco soundly, stealing as much time as he dared before he broke away. “I love you too,” he murmured.

He turned around and snuck back into the speed lab, leaving Cisco in the belly of the particle accelerator. Reverb, Jesse, and Thawne were in an animated conversation about the nature of dark matter and how it created metahumans and it didn’t seem like anyone had noticed he’d even left. 

A ding came from Reverb’s tablet and Reverb suddenly gestured Jesse away. She complied, slipping back next to Harry. “Did it work?” she whispered. 

“We’ll see,” he whispered back, watching as Reverb prepared a vial of the Velocity-9 for Thawne.

“The dark matter’s reaching its peak, and antimatter is a little bit behind it,” Reverb said, showing the tablet to Thawne, who nodded. Thawne’s face was all seriousness, but there was a light in his eyes that showed his excitement. If he’d been a little less of a monster, Harry might have even considered how it would have felt to have been trapped in the past for over a decade, in a strangely similar juxtaposition to Cisco’s situation when he’d first arrived on Earth-2, but he was fresh out of sympathy for the man who had murdered his doppelganger. 

Reverb prepared the needle with the Velocity-9 as Thawne held his arm steady. They both tracked the tablet’s display with bated breath.

“Now,” Thawne whispered finally, and Reverb turned to inject the Velocity-9 directly into his bicep.

For a long moment, nothing happened.

Abruptly, the room was lit with sudden, iridescent light emanating from Thawne’s body. “It’s working,” he hissed, triumphant. “I can _feel_ the speed force. I can _touch_ it.” His eyes grew wide and hungry. “I’ve never felt anything like this before.” He began to laugh. “Not even the Flash can stop me now.” 

“Typical supervillain monologue,” a familiar voice said from behind Harry. Cisco leaned against the doorframe, looking tired but completely whole and unaffected by his adventures in the belly of the particle accelerator. 

“I see you survived,” Reverb said without looking up from his tablet. “Wells will be relieved, I’m sure.”

Cisco walked straight to Harry and took his hand again, his face determined as he watched Thawne blaze with light. “How long is this going to take?” Harry asked, not sure if he was asking Cisco or Reverb.

Reverb didn’t answer, eyes fixed on his tablet. He was starting to look a little less confident. 

“It depends on how much dark matter he programmed the accelerator to focus in his direction,” Cisco said smoothly, squeezing Harry’s hand. Harry smiled grimly; it wasn’t even that much of a lie. 

“Something’s wrong,” Reverb muttered. He glanced worriedly up at Thawne. “Hey. These dark matter amounts are higher than we calculated.”

Thawne waved him off. “It’s fine.” 

Reverb shook his head. “It’s not fine. This is going to kill you.” He started frantically swiping at the tablet in his grasp. “It looks like there’s a malfunction. Some of the cooling valves are jammed, which is causing the accelerator to generate more dark matter and antimatter than we originally thought.” He swore. “I checked those valves myself. They were working earlier—“

He paused. Looked up at Cisco.

“You really shouldn’t have sent me somewhere else and lost track of me,” said Cisco, his eyes wide and guileless. “Really unfortunate, Reverb.”

Reverb took a menacing step towards him, clearly about to start a fight.

Thawne gave a shout of pain and gave off a huge arc of blue lightning, the feel of electricity even crackling in the air as far as Harry and his group were standing. Reverb turned back to the monitors, his face pale and nervous.

“I’m shutting it down,” Reverb snapped.

“No—“ Thawne said. “Just a little more—“

“You’re going to _die_.” Reverb began desperately making adjustments on his tablet, the nervous pallor of his face highlighted in the glowing blue light. “I’m going to shut the accelerator down.” He glared up at Cisco again.

“He wasn’t going to take you into the future anyway,” Harry pointed out.

Reverb rolled his eyes expressively. “I didn’t _want_ to go into the future,” he said. “I _want_ to be my own man, free from Zoom. He gave me that. I’m not going to let him die here." 

“Technically, we also gave you that,” Cisco pointed out.

Reverb glared at him. “Francisco, everyone knows we’re going to eventually have to destroy each other. Let’s not make it today.”

Another bolt of lightning arced off of Thawne, reaching towards the ceiling before dissipating into the air. The room was beginning to smell acridly of ozone from the discharge, and Harry wondered if they were safe there. “Cisco, get Jesse out of here,” he said. This time, Jesse didn’t fight him. 

Cisco nodded and tried to open a breach. The bright blue of the portal sprung into existence briefly. Then, it wobbled slightly and absorbed the electric discharge in the air, disappearing again in a jolt of electricity that sent Cisco flying back into Harry’s arms. Jesse ran to them both, her eyes wide and scared.

“Is he okay?” she asked.

Cisco nodded weakly. “No breaching here,” he said. “Guess we do this the old fashioned way.”

Before they could make a run for the door, Thawne yelled again, louder and more sustained than any of the previous times. “The speed force!” he shouted. “I see—“

 And he vanished as though he’d never been there at all, leaving a seething ball of dark matter and speed force energy pulsing electric blue light.

“Is he dead?!” Cisco asked. “Did we do it?” Harry was past the point of caring what happened to Thawne; his first priority was getting Cisco and Jesse as far from that pulsing ball of electricity as possible.

“We need to go,” he said. “ _Now_.” He helped Cisco to his feet and they ran for the door, adrenaline helping Harry ignore the pain from his injuries. They headed back out into the corridors of the accelerator towards the elevators that would bring them back up to the shielded cortex. Since both Harry and Cisco were bruised up at that point, it was slow going, even with Jesse’s help.

“Is he going to be able to stop the accelerator before it explodes?” she asked. 

Cisco nodded. “When I sabotaged the cooling valves, I also set an automatic shut down sequence into the accelerator once it reaches a certain amount of dark matter input. It should be shutting down shortly. The bigger problem is what happens to that mass of energy Dr. Wells left behind.”

“He’s not Dr. Wells,” Harry snapped.

There was the sound of an explosion in the room they just left. A moment later, a wave of energy jolted through all of them, hitting Jesse a split second before Harry and Cisco.

Harry felt the electricity spike through him, sharp and painful, before everything went black and he lost consciousness. 

* * *

Harry woke in what was clearly Snow’s infirmary on Earth-1.

“Cisco?” he asked immediately, his voice coming out in hardly more than a croak. “Jesse?”

“Shh,” Snow said in her sweet voice, smoothing his hair from his forehead. “They’re fine. You’re all going to be okay.”

Comforted that Cisco and Jesse had survived, he let sleep overtake him once more, the exhaustion in his body feeling like it went down to his very bones.

When he woke again, he felt far more coherent and alive. He was hooked up to IV cart, making it difficult to sit, but he forced himself up so he could survey the rest of the infirmary.

The bed next to him was empty, and Jesse lay in the bed on the other side of it, sleeping. She was also hooked up to an IV but otherwise looked unharmed. Cisco was nowhere to be seen, nor was Snow. Harry frowned at the needle in his arm and yanked the tape off of it, tossing the IV onto the tray next to his bed before he swung his legs out over the side.

Snow came running in, dressed in a sheath dress with a lab coat over it. There was a puffiness to her eyes that suggested she had recently been crying, but otherwise she seemed put together.

“Harry, you need to _rest_ ,” she said sternly, walking right up to him and trying to maneuver him back onto the cot. “You’ve been through quite an ordeal. Your body is adjusting.”

“Adjusting?” Harry asked, an eyebrow raised. “Where’s Cisco? Is Jesse okay?”

Snow sighed as though Harry was impossible. “Cisco’s fine. He’s out in the cortex and I’ll send him in shortly. Jesse is going through the same adjustment process that you are, although hers has been a bit faster, probably because she’s younger.”

“Adjustment process?” Harry didn’t like the sound of that. “Adjusting to what?” 

Snow looked to the side. “You and Jesse should really hear this together,” she said.

“ _Snow_ ,” Harry said, channeling his best commanding CEO voice. Snow glanced at him, chagrined, and threw up her arms as though she gave up.

“Fine. Come here.” She helped him off the cot and over to her computer, pulling up a view of a cell sample from what was clearly a microscope.

The cells were vibrating at intense speeds, very similar to Allen’s cells when they’d been formulating the slow compound. “Yes, I’ve seen Allen’s cells before,” Harry said dismissively. “What does this have to do with me?”

“No, Harry,” Snow said softly, shaking her head. “These are _your_ cells from a blood sample I took this morning.” 

Harry stared at her. “What.”

Snow flushed under his scrutiny. “Your cells and Jesse’s both. You’re…turning into speedsters.”

“ _What?!”_  

Cisco came running in at Harry’s shout, worry on his face. He took one look at Harry’s expression and frowned. “You told him?”

“He demanded to know!” Snow said. “He was pretty cranky.”

“He’s always cranky,” Cisco replied fondly. He stepped forward into Harry’s space, reaching out to cup his face with his hands. “He’s probably going to be even crankier in the next few weeks." 

“I’m turning into a _speedster_?!” Harry demanded. He looked Cisco over, making sure he was okay. “What about you?”

Cisco shook his head. “I’m already a meta, Harry. Reverb and I were unaffected by the blast other than being knocked unconscious with a few stray electrical burns. You and Jesse absorbed something from it and within twenty-four hours, your cells began to show these signs.” He grinned at Harry, spreading his arms wide. “Welcome to metahood, Harry." 

Harry remembered his envy at his doppelganger’s superspeed, what felt like an absolute lifetime before, and how he’d wished he’d been given the same gift to stop Zoom. He looked down at his hands, still moving at normal speed. “I can’t…this is going to take some time to sink in,” he muttered.

“We’ll help you adjust,” Cisco beamed. “Don’t worry. You and Jesse are going to be killer speedsters.”

Harry gave a worried glance back at Jesse’s prone form, although it was clear after watching her for a few moments that she was just sleeping, not drugged or unconscious. “I hope so,” he murmured. 

Harry finally let Cisco and Snow help him back to his cot. Caitlin reconnected the saline drip, telling him he needed to stay hydrated before ordering him to get some sleep. Cisco waited for her to head back out to the cortex before he curled up in the cot beside Harry, lying his head on his chest.

Harry felt himself starting to drowse as he ran his fingers through Cisco’s soft hair, but he still had questions that needed answering. “Allen?”

“Thawne left him tied up in the cortex. Caitlin and Ronnie rescued him and they all got out before the dark matter explosion.”

Harry nodded, glad to hear that Allen was okay. He’d become pretty fond of him. “And Reverb?" 

“Caitlin treated his burns, and the moment he woke up, he breached out of here faster than I could blink. I tried to vibe him but he’s not on Earth-2; I think he fled further away since he knew it would be harder for me to find him.” He grimaced. “We’re going to have to deal with that problem eventually.”

“Thawne?” Harry continued, going down the list even as a giant yawn interrupted him.

Cisco gave a small shrug, barely perceptible as he laid against Harry’s side. “Don’t know what happened to him. He just vanished. Barry thinks he might be in the speed force itself somewhere. It’s possible he got back to the future.”

Harry sighed. “So we won,” he said finally.

Cisco reached up to stroke his hair. “We won,” he confirmed. “Go to sleep, Harry.”

With the feeling of gentle hands in his hair and the warmth of Cisco curled around him, Harry finally rested. 

* * *

**Epilogue**

Harry and Jesse spent several weeks training their speedster powers with Allen before Cisco breached them all back to Earth-2. Returning home was like a breath of fresh air, and somehow, both Ramon Industries and S.T.A.R. Labs were still standing, although Harry wasn’t sure how much that would change once he and Cisco formalized their relationship.

Harry had convinced himself not to get his hopes up that Cisco would return to Earth-2 with him, but when the day came for himself and Jesse to go back, Cisco stood right along with them with a backpack on his back and a fistful of Twizzlers in his pocket.

“You’re coming back with us?” Harry asked, voicing aloud the question he’d barely dared to hope.

Cisco nodded. “I can breach now, Harry. I can come back to Earth-1 whenever I want. But my company, our super squad, _you_ …those things are all on Earth-2. Plenty of people move to foreign countries; why can’t I move to a foreign Earth?”

Harry felt overcome with the emotion of it all and didn’t know what to say. He enveloped Cisco into his arms and they clutched at one another until Jesse said to Allen, “seriously? Do you see what I’m going to have to put up with?”

Upon returning to Earth-2, it turned out their timing could not have been more perfect. The remains of Zoom’s organization were slowly coming out of the woodwork, emboldened by the power vacuum in Central City’s meta hierarchy, and with just Rathaway left of their super squad, Detective West had been at her wit’s end. When Cisco had reappeared with _two_ new speedsters, freshly trained or not, West had visibly sighed in relief. The next few months of clean-up efforts threw Harry and Jesse into the deep end right away, but also helped them both refine and hone their powers.

Being a speedster was something that took getting used to. Harry still woke some mornings and was unable to believe the energy and power stored in his body. He no longer had to work long hours at his desk going through financial reports or doing paperwork; now he could finish all of his administrative duties in the blink of an eye and still have enough time to spend in his workshop and home with Cisco and Jesse.

Jesse threw herself into superheroing with more enthusiasm than Harry; she was far better at fighting metas and bringing them down, while Harry primarily used his superspeed to outthink them and invent technological solutions that could counter their powers. Harry didn’t particularly like having Jesse fighting metas with himself and Cisco, but after the third time in as many weeks that Jesse blew up at him and refused to speak to him for several days, Harry gave up on trying to forbid her from being part of their super squad. (Cisco was particularly relieved, as the role of mediator tended to fall to him when Harry and Jesse were at odds.)

As for Cisco himself, navigating their relationship took some negotiation at first.

“I’m keeping my apartment,” Cisco told Harry once they’d returned to Earth-2. “I think we should do this right. Take this slow.” It wasn’t like he hadn’t spent every night since their final battle in Harry’s bed, but Harry wasn’t about to argue with him. Their first night back on Earth-2, Cisco had dinner with Jesse and Harry - dinner preparation went amazingly fast with two speedsters -  and sat watching the news with them in the family room until the hour grew late. It was reminiscent of the early days of their relationship, when Zoom had still been waiting in the wings. 

Finally, Jesse fell asleep on the couch, her face pressed into one of the pillows. “I should get going,” Cisco murmured from his place slumped against Harry’s side.

Harry didn’t want him to leave, ever again, but he nodded and stood, pulling Cisco up next to him and escorting him to the mud room, where Cisco pulled on his coat and a hat before he made his way to the front door. He stood on the stoop with Harry, despite the chilly autumn air, and they stared at each other for one long moment. 

Cisco made a miserable face. “I know we should have healthy boundaries,” he said, “but I don’t want to leave. Caitlin made me read a book about developing healthy, non-codependent relationships. I need to go back to my apartment. But—“ he grimaced, “I just want to stay here with you.”

Harry stepped into his space and pulled Cisco into his arms, leaning down to kiss him. “Well if Snow says we should be less codependent, we probably should try to follow that advice,” he murmured against Cisco’s mouth, even though he, too, wanted nothing more than to drag Cisco back inside and close the door. He let him go with one more kiss, watching wistfully as Cisco got into his car and drove away.

Healthy boundaries or no healthy boundaries, they both knew their relationship was headed towards Cisco moving in sooner rather than later. Harry could bide his time.

After signing a mountain of conflict of interest forms and speaking with their attorneys, Harry and Cisco also both maintained their separate companies without too much difficulty. There were things they couldn’t tell each other, and occasionally they ended up in the running for similar contracts, but S.T.A.R. Labs and Ramon Industries managed to survive side by side very handily. There _were_ a few tense weeks right after their relationship got out to local media when received so many phone calls from reporters that he threw his phone in a drawer until the furor died down. Cisco tweeted out a statement and posted one on his website and did some sort of interview on the internet, and Harry was happy to let him be the face of their relationship. At least Cisco didn’t fight with reporters and call them idiots.

All in all, everything wrapped up nicely—

* * *

_Somewhere on Earth-19…_

“And that’s how I ended up here,” Reverb said for the fiftieth time to an egregiously attractive woman wearing head to toe leather. “Look, I didn’t mean to break your cute Earth’s ‘rules’. I’ll leave this place and never come back as soon as you let me go.”

The woman glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest. “Nice try,” she said. “You need a permit from the Collectors to travel to and from our world and you didn’t have one. Ergo, you’re here.”

“Well, I know that _now_ ,” Reverb told him with an eyeroll. “How was I supposed to know that you guys are weird isolationists? Geez.” He flopped on the uncomfortable cot at the back of his cell, eyes turned to the depressingly grey concrete ceiling. The people on this Earth couldn’t even decorate properly. “I don’t have an Earth to return to, okay? Are you happy?”

The woman was quiet for a moment. “You shouldn’t have come to this one,” she finally said softly.

“Yeah thanks, I figured that one out,” Reverb said. “You people have seriously got to chill out about world-jumpers.” He pulled at the dampening band over his wrist, but it was made of solid metal and didn’t give. Earth-19 was the _worst._  

“We were _invaded_ by world-jumpers,” the woman said angrily. “We didn’t just decide to restrict all travel to our Earth for fun and games.”

It was the first time anyone had explained the reasoning behind the draconian measures to Reverb. He wondered if she was looking for his sympathy.

The woman studied him for a moment. She was exceptionally gorgeous, and Reverb was angry at how much he wanted to like her, even with her angry frown and her complete lack of interest in assisting him to escape. She hadn’t even fallen for the _hair,_ which he still was wearing similar to Earth-1 Francisco’s. What a complete waste.

The woman finally rolled her eyes in his direction and threw him a ration bar. “I can’t help you but I can try to get you moved into a nicer cell,” she said. “That’s all I can offer you.” She turned on her studded heel and walked away, leaving Reverb glaring at the door. Useless. 

The building around them shook with some sort of impact.

“What the hell was that?” the woman snapped, running past Reverb’s cell in the other direction. There was the sound of yelling. Reverb slowly got out of bed and sauntered to the entrance to his cell, glancing out at the prison compound that held inter-dimensional travelers.

A yellow streak of lightning zigzagged through the assembled guards and bounty hunters, sending them flying. The attractive woman landed right next to Reverb’s cell, clenching her jaw angrily.

“Shit,” she cursed, “it’s a speedster.” She opened a breach almost identical to Reverb’s own and jumped through it, vanishing a moment later.

The lightning zigzagged through the rest of the guards. Reverb couldn’t tear his eyes from it. It couldn’t be…

The streak of lightning moved to the front of Reverb’s cell and a moment later, the door was open. Eobard Thawne stood in the doorway, tall and slim and looking like the spitting image of Harrison Wells.

“Hello, Reverb,” he said in his smooth voice, his mouth curving into a smug, welcoming smile. “Can I lend you a hand?”

 

_THE END_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD this is done!!!! Hallelujah!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated, and thanks for going on this crazy wild ride with me. Am I going to write a sequel? Probably not, but obviously I did leave the end open for one.
> 
> As always, feel free to add me on [tumblr](https://saucy-kate.tumblr.com/) if you want to be Flash buddies!
> 
> There was one significant thread of this story that never got included and that was Earth-1's West family. Iris is on her honeymoon with Eddie for this story, but she does come back and join Team Flash and eventually introduce Jesse to Wally!


End file.
